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THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

OF 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



WITH A CONTINUATION 
DRAWN FROM HIS LETTERS 



EDITED FOR USE IN SCHOOLS. WITH INTRODUCTION 

AND EXPLANATORY NOTES BY EDWARD E. HALE, JR., 

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, UNION COLLEGE 



NEWSON AND COMPANY 
NEW YORK 



ba^ 



1363 






Copyright, 1912, by 
NEWSON & COMPANY 






PEEFATOEY NOTE 

The " Autobiography of Franklin '' is the most interesting 
book in our early literature, a book that every American should 
know well. It is one of the most authentic records that we 
have of the life of our country at a most important period, and 
of one of her most distinguished sons. It is here reprinted, 
by the kind permission of the late John Bigelow, from the 
original text, discovered and first edited by him. 

Edward E. Hale, Jr. 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION 

Franklin as a Citizen and a Statesman 
Franklin as a Man of Letters . 
Franklin's Study of the Art of Writing 
Franklin as a Scientist . . 
The Main Events of Franklin's Life . 

THE AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF FEANKLIN . 

A CONTINUATION OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE 

Illustrated from his Letters . . 



PAGE 
1 

1 

8 
15 
19 
22 

27 



221 



INTEODUCTION 

FRANKLIN AS A CITIZEN AND A STATESMAN 

The " Autobiography ^' itself gives the best account of 
Franklin as a private citizen. It carries his life to the point 
where he had begun to be prominent in public affairs. In 
fact, after 1757, when he became agent for the Colony in 
London, Franklin never was a private citizen again. He al- 
ways held public office, for one thing, and for another he was 
very little at home ; of the remaining thirty-three years of his 
life he passed all but nine abroad. But during the earlier 
years of his life Franklin was essentially a public citizen, for 
though in private station he habitually lived for the ad- 
vantage and interest not of himself alone, but of the city. 

An illustration of this characteristic of his will most readily 
be found in the great number of projects of many kinds 
which he thought would be to the advantage of his fellow-citi- 
zens and which he succeeded in carrying out. They will be 
found mentioned in his own account, but it will be interesting 
to set them down separately. His first plan for improving 
public affairs, he tells us ^ was for a better ordering of the 
city watch, the next was for the better protection against fire, 
and a later one was for an improvement in the paving of 
streets. We take all such things as paving, etc., as a matter 
of course: probably everyone in Franklin's day took it as a 
matter of course that there should be practically nothing of 

^ Page 139. He had already (p. But the Library, of course, was for a 
107) spoken of the Library as his long time a private matter, 
"first project of a public nature." 



Z INTRODUCTION 

the kind. Franklin, however, not only saw the lack but had 
vigor enough to propose a remedy and see it carried through. 
These are necessary, but material conveniences ; Franklin was 
interested in intellectual matters too. He proposed the estab- 
lishment of the Library Society, he made the proposal for an 
academy that resulted finally in the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, he brought about the founding of the American Philo- 
sophical Society, and we must remember that in advocating 
these improvements he was not merely adopting institutions 
which were common elsewhere. Doubtless Franklin got his 
ideas from all sources, but many of his proposals were made 
at a time when the thing he had in mind was hardly known 
at all on this side of the Atlantic. And just as he was for- 
ward in suggesting institutions or material improvements, so 
he was interested in methods and ways of doing all sorts of 
things ; he invented a new kind of stove, he introduced willow 
into Pennsylvania for the making of baskets, he experimented 
in the use of plaster of Paris for the manuring of fields. 
Nor did he look to his own profit in these matters ; indeed in 
the case of his invention of the stove which bears his name, 
he refused to take out a patent. 

Franklin is always thought of as a model of careful thrift 
and economy : the maxims of Poor Eichard were meant to en- 
courage people to attend to their own business and so to pros- 
per in the world. Franklin attended to his own business and 
prospered in the world so well that he practically retired with 
a handsome competence at the age of forty-two. Yet we can 
see clearly from his career that Franklin did not believe that a 
man should look sharply after his own business and be con- 
tent with that. These most useful suggestions of his for pub- 
lic convenience and interest were all made when he was 
attending closely to his own concerns. In fact, it was in 
part, because he looked after his own concerns so well, and 
was so comfortably off himself, that his proposals for the pub- 



INTRODUCTION" d 

lie benefit were looked upon so favorably. He did not take 
any special advantage from them himself. He did not need 
to take any advantage from such things, for he was com- 
fortably off without. And when he found that he had a 
sufficient competence to make him independent for the rest 
of his life, and so retired from business, his fellow citi- 
zens at once called upon him to take part in public affairs; 
he was made justice of the peace, alderman and member of 
the Assembly. Tor the rest of his life, instead of having 
the quiet leisure to devote to his scientific studies, he was 
uninterruptedly in the public service, sometimes in two or 
three capacities at once. 

Such a record is illustrated by some of the questions sug- 
gested in the rules for the regulation of the Junto. They 
may be presented in the form of the questions which were put 
to the members, of which we copy a few : 

" 14. Have you lately observed any defect in the laws of 
your country, of which it would be proper to move the legis- 
lature for an amendment? Or do you know of any benefi- 
cial law that is wanting? 

*' 15. Have you lately observed any encroachment on the 
just liberties of the people ? 

" 11. Do you think of anything at present in which the 
Junto may be serviceable to mankind, to their country, to 
their friends, or to themselves ? 

^^ 3. Hath any citizen in your knowledge failed in his busi- 
ness lately, and what have you heard of the cause ? 

"4. Have you lately heard of any citizen's thriving well, 
and by what means ? 

" 6. Do you know of a fellow citizen, who has lately done 
a worthy action, deserving praise and imitation, or who has 
lately committed an error proper for us to be warned against 
and avoid ? " 

These questions show men who are living what we may 



4: INTRODUCTION" 

rightly call a civic life. They lived in the city of Phila- 
delphia not merely for their own benefit, but for the benefit 
of their fellow-citizens. They were to consider the success or 
failure of anyone in business, not as a matter for gossip or 
curiosity, but for the general advantage, just as they were to 
consider the administration of the laws and the preservation 
of the rights of the citizen. It was not enough in Franklin's 
mind that a man should attend to his own business and pay 
no attention to anything else. Franklin would not have 
understood the idea that a man had no time to attend to 
politics. One of the questions asked of candidates for the 
Junto was, "Do you sincerely declare that you love man- 
kind in general, of what profession or religion soever ? " 
That seems to us very conventional and formal, but the 
members of the Junto applied it to the circumstances next 
their hand, and so became public-spirited citizens. At least 
their founder did, with whom we are concerned at present. 
He was later in life thought of as a philanthropist or lover 
of mankind ; he began to be when as a citizen of Philadelphia 
he kept his eyes open to see how the affairs of the city might 
be carried on in the best possible way. 

Such was Franklin as a citizen. Now a statesman is one 
who has to do with directing the policy of states or nations. 
Franklin was a leading citizen as long as he concerned him- 
self with the municipal affairs of Philadelphia, but when 
he began to deal with the larger problems of the Colonies, or 
even of Pennsylvania, we may call him a statesman, though 
the colonies for which he acted were not yet states, even in 
the most general sense of the word. Franklin was for the 
greater part of his life in public service. We should not 
call him a statesman because he w^as postmaster or clerk 
of the Assembly, nor even, necessarily because he was a 
member of the Assembly, for many assemblymen have not 
the large view that makes a statesman. But when we think 



INTRODUCTION ' O 

of Franklin as Conunissioner for the Colony of Pennsylvania 
at Albany where he proposed a plan of union for all the 
Colonies, when we think of him as agent of the Colonies in 
London where he had to maintain the interests of all before 
the powerful action of the British government, when we 
think of him as minister of the United States to France 
where he had to present the cause of his country in such a 
light as to gain the friendship and alliance of that monarchy, 
then we see that he was one of those who transacted the 
business of state as surely as did William Pitt when Foreign 
Secretary of Great Britain or the Count de Vergennes when 
Minister for Foreign Affairs to the King of France. 

Our ^^ Autobiography," unfortunately, breaks off before we 
come to the time when Franklin's great powers in this field 
had come fully into play. In 1T52 Franklin was elected a 
member of the Assembly and the next year he and the 
Speaker were appointed a committee to make a treaty with 
the Indians. Franklin says little of this matter; doubtless 
it did not call for great wisdom, save in managing the un- 
accountable people with whom he had to do. Two years 
after, however, Franklin had another opportunity, and this 
he used to the utmost. 

The meeting of the Commissioners of the Colonies at 
Albany was one of the first opportunities the Colonists had 
had of getting together and seeing each other. It was 
twenty years and more before the Eevolution, and men had 
no thought of independence. But Franklin and other men 
of political capacity, though they had no serious idea or 
desire of independence, had already seen that union was 
an ultimate necessity. We can hardly imagine to-day that 
these thirteen Colonies could have gone along year after year 
with their common interests and common dangers, and not 
have thought of union. Indeed there had been several lesser 
combinations, like the confederation of the Xew England 



b INTRODUCTION 

Colonies in 1642, and there had been other plans proposed 
of a somewhat similar kind. Franklin now came forward 
wath a plan for union; such a plan as appears to us to-day 
with all our later experience in mind, as being natural and 
suitable. It provided for a Governor-General and an As- 
sembly or Council of Delegates, two from each Colony. 
There we have the natural elements of such a confederation, 
but the Colonies were not ready for it and it passed out of 
mind. 

Some time after this Franklin became agent in London 
of the Colony of Pennsylvania. If Pennsylvania had been 
'an independent power Franklin's position would have been 
that of a foreign minister, and he could have discussed the 
questions at issue with his equals as an equal. But as Penn- 
sylvania was only a colony, he had merely to use any means 
that might serve to influence the ministers and the king. 
The last addition to the " Autobiography " gives an account 
of Franklin's course, but we shall see that there was small 
opportunity for true statesmanship. Franklin as agent for 
the Colonies could think as a statesman, but he had to act 
like a small politician. For ten years he remained in Eng- 
land as agent for the Colony of Pennsylvania and for several 
others, and his utmost resources of good sense and good 
humor were strained and to no very great effect. 

In 1775 he came back to America, where the Colonies had 
gone far in his absence. Lexington had been fought and 
the Continental Congress was to meet. He was chosen a 
member and at once became one of the most prominent. He 
had two things to do : first, to give his general advice as to 
the course the united Colonies should take, and second, to 
help accomplish the thousand and one minor matters that 
the busy time called for. As to the latter Franklin w^as 
made Postmaster-General, was on committees to treat with 
the Indians, to issue paper money, to find supplies of salt- 



INTRODUCTION 7 

peter, salt, and lead, to make a plan for regulating commerce, 
in fact he was a member of most of the working committees. 
As to the former he proposed a plan of union, this time for 
an independent confederacy to last till Great Britain should 
cease to oppress, and failing that to endure forever. This 
plan came too early for serious consideration, but events were 
hurrying the Colonies along the road to Independence. 

For a while Dickenson and most of the Pennsylvania dele- 
gates exercised a strong conservative tendency. But finally, 
as is well known, Franklin was elected one of the Committee 
of Five to draw up a Declaration of Independence. He knew 
as much as any man of the need and the right of such a 
declaration, but he joined his colleagues in asking Thomas 
Jefferson to make the draft. Before the Declaration, how- 
ever, Franklin had been one of the committee appointed to 
see whether aid in the coming struggle might not be gained 
from France or some other country. With greater knowledge 
of European conditions than his colleagues, Franklin natu- 
rally was the chief member of such a committee. 

The chief field for such work was in France, always in the 
eighteenth century tlie opponent of Great Britain, and to 
France Silas Deane was first sent as a special commissioner. 
In September, however, Franklin himself was made one of 
three commissioners to that country, the others being Silas 
Deane and Arthur Lee. Then csime Franklin's long and 
signal service for America at the court of Louis XVI. It is 
a most interesting story in itself, that of the old and famous 
republican at the court of the absolute monarch. Franklin 
succeeded in two great tasks; in gaining France for an ally, 
and in negotiating the Treaty of Peace. The first enabled us 
to conquer in the war; the second enabled us to retain its 
fruits. Franklin returned from Paris in the year 1785, and 
was at once elected President of the Supreme Executive 
Council of Pennsylvania, an office in the then order of things 



8 INTRODUCTION 

equivalent to that of governor of the state. But his years 
of statesmanship were nearly over; he said himself that his 
countrymen had eaten his flesh and were now bent on pick- 
ing his bones. He was at the time almost eighty years of 
age. Still he served three years in the highest position his 
state could give, and finished his labors as a statesman only 
a year before he finished his life. 



FRANKLIN AS A MAN OF LETTERS 

Franklin was something more than a citizen and a states- 
inan. Had he been quite unknown in those fields he would 
still have been famous as a scientist and a man of letters. 
Indeed one of the most important views of Franklin is as 
a man of letters. With two possible exceptions — Cotton 
Mather and Jonathan Edwards — there was no man in the 
Colonial period of America so widely known for his at- 
tainments in the world of letters as Franklin. We must of 
course remember that literature in Colonial America was 
not the same thing as literature in the United States either 
to-day or a hundred years ago. When we think of literature 
now we think first probably of novels, poetry, essays, then 
perhaps of history, biography, travel. Of these things, how- 
ever, there was little in Colonial America; there was not 
much of any kind of literature, and of what there was a 
great part was theological, a good deal travel and descrip- 
tion, with a very small element of verse. And even in these 
directions little was produced of abiding literary interest. 
Cotton Mather's great work is the " Magnalia," Jonathan 
Edwards' is his treatise " On the AVill," but neither of them 
is read now by any but the professional student or the seri- 
ous reader. Franklin's abilities, as Ave know, did not lie in 
the directions of history or philosophy. His achievements 
in letters were of a different sort, or, we should rather say, 



INTRODUCTION ' 9 

of different sorts, for they were so various that we can 
scarcely include them under one name. We may note those 
of his writings which have most contributed to his reputation 
and are best remembered at the present day. 

1. The Autobiography. It is unnecessary to speak par- 
ticularly of this work here. It may be remarked, however, 
that it was undertaken without any thought of literature, so 
far as we know; indeed it ought to be said that it was not 
to this piece of writing that Franklin in any way owed his 
reputation as a man of letters, for it was not written till near 
the end of his life, and was not published until after his 
death. The circumstances of its writing and publishing 
are most interesting but can only be noted in passing. The 
first part, as far as the account of founding the Library 
Company was written in 1771 for the benefit of his son, 
during a week's leisure at Twyford, the county seat of the 
Bishop of St. Asaph's. This was, of course, before the ex- 
citing events leading to the Eevolutionary War, during which 
his time and his thoughts were wholly absorbed by public 
affairs. In 1784, however, having been urged by various 
friends who had seen the first part, and feeling less pressure 
from public affairs, he wrote another part carrying the nar- 
rative to the point of his second Journey to England. He 
w^as at the time of writing still in France. On returning 
to America he became at once absorbed in public life and 
his hands were wholly filled with public affairs. But in 1788 
he retired from office, at the age of eighty-two, and was able 
to write a bit more on his " little history," as he calls it. His 
death in 1790 put a final stop to the work, which thus remains 
forever but a fragment. 

The book thus written was not published for a long time, 
nor, indeed, was the true copy known. In 1791 a French 
version of the first part was published in Paris. In 1793 
English translations appeared. In 1817 a version of the 



10 INTRODUCTION 

first three parts was published in London by William Temple 
Franklin, which has been many times republished. It be- 
came known, however, that this version was edited not from 
Franklin's original, but from a copy. WTiere the original 
manuscript was remained a mystery. N"ot till 1867 was the 
mystery disclosed when the original and complete manuscript, 
which we now have, was discovered by John Bigelow, at that 
time U. S. Minister to France, and published by him. The 
story of his finding this long unknown treasure ^ is most 
interesting although too long to insert here. It should be 
said, however, that this version is not only complete, as far 
as it goes, but correct, showing that the version printed by 
Temple Franklin had changed the original in more than 
twelve hundred cases. 

II. Poor Richard's Almanac, It would seem rather ab- 
surd to think of a- man of letters of the present day founding 
his fame upon an almanac. But it was not the ordinary 
part of the almanac that made Franklin famous, but the 
part that was out of the ordinary. Almanacs were in his day, 
among the commonest publications in America. Almost 
every printer printed one, and as they were so common, it had 
been the usual practice to put in, together with the astronom- 
ical and meteorological parts anything else that would be 
amusing or interesting. There were doubtless many farmers 
or settlers in the backwoods who had no other book in the 
house than an almanac, and who would read anything that 
was printed in it with an interest that we, who have an im- 
mense range of literature within easy reach, can hardly im- 
agine. 

A little before Franklin, in 1725, Nathaniel Ames of 
Dedham, Mass., published, and continued until his death in 
176-1:, his Astronomical Diary and Almanac; "which, under 
his management acquired an enormous popularity through- 

1 It may be found in Bigelow's "Life of Franklin," Yol. I. 



INTRODUCTION 11 

out New England; and which, from the first, contained 
in high perfection every type of excellence afterward 
illustrated in the almanac of Benjamin Franklin/^ ^ He 
presented predictions and proverbs, jokes and household 
advice, poetry of his own and extracts from English poets 
and men of letters, and made his almanac a book really worth 
having. But he seems to have lacked the touch of genius; 
there was something in Eranklin that made Poor Richard 
famous the world over, while Ames remained unknown out- 
side of New England. It would be difficult, if not impos- 
sible, to determine the true source of Poor Richard's success, 
but one or two notes will be of interest. Franklin invented* 
the character of Richard Saunders, Philomath, or "lover of 
learning," a common title for almanac-makers to assume. 
Perhaps he was led to it by thinking that people in general 
would not imagine that B. Franklin, printer, was a man of suf- 
ficient wisdom born to write almanacs. Whatever the reason, 
Franklin's Almanacs had the charm of personality about 
them. Richard Saunders was Poor Richard; he tells of his 
wife; in fact, one year his wife got the copy of the almanac 
and edited it herself; he tells how his rival Titan Leeds 
has prophesied his own death, and indeed in spite of Leed's 
remonstrance Poor Richard insisted that he really was dead ; 
he rebukes those ill-willers who would persuade the public 
that there was no such person as Poor Richard, and in fact 
every year has some new fancy or idea carried out with a 
quiet humor all his own. 

Besides the humorous fiction in his almanac, Franklin 
took care to put in plenty of common-sense fact, being him- 
self as much a master of one as of the other. In the say- 
ings or proverbs or apothegms with which he filled up the 
odd places in the almanac he took care to have a fund of 
really sound advice. Into all sorts of short, pithy sayings 

* Tyler: "History of American Literature," ii. 122. 



1^ INTRODUCTION 

he put the principles of a steady and thrifty life, such as 
he had himself lived, and such as had brought him to a 
competence fairly early in life. People would read Poor 
Richard with amusement, but if they would remember what 
he said and act upon it, they would find that there was more 
than amusement in it. The proof of the pudding could be 
left to the eating. 

However it was about the weather and the weather 
prophecies — and Franlvlin, of course, understood that it was 
idle to attempt really to foretell the weather for a territory 
stretching from Massachusetts to South Carolina — how- 
ever it was with the winds and storms, Franklin meant that 
his other advice might be taken seriously and that it should 
be found good. We may note the passage in the " Auto- 
biography" (p. 130), in which he gives an account of his 
idea. " Observing it was generally read," he says, " scarce 
any neighborhood in the province being without it, I con- 
sidered it as a proper vehicle for conveying instruction 
among the common people, who bought scarcely any other 
books; I therefore filled all the little spaces between the re- 
markable days in the calendar with proverbial sentences, 
chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality as the means 
of procuring wealth, and thereby securing virtue; it being 
more difficult for a man in want to act always honestly." 
This proverbial wisdom, as we read later, Franklin after some 
years gathered together in the form of a speech by Father 
Abraham. " I stopt my horse lately," writes Mr. Eichard 
Saunders in the Almanac for 1758, "where a great Number 
of people were collected at a Vendue of Merchant Goods. 
The Hour of Sale not being come, they were conversing on 
the Badness of the Times, and one of the Company call'd to 
a plain clean old Man, with white Locks, Pray Father 
Abraham, what think you of the Times f Wont These heavy 
Taxes quite ruin the Country? How shall ive be ever able 



INTRODUCTION" 13 

to pay tliemf — Father Abraham stood up, and reply'd, If 
you'd have my advice^, I'll give it you in short, for a Word to 
the Wise is enough, and many Words wont fill a Bushel, as 
Poor Richard says. They joined in desiring him to speak 
his Mind, and gathering round him, he proceeded as fol- 
lows: — '' and what followed was a speech of advice in which 
were imbedded, like plums in pudding, a great number of 
the wisest proverbs that Poor Eichard had presented in the 
preceding years. 

" It is this preface which has given the name of Poor 
Richard currency in alien races and a quotable quality to 
this day,'' says Paul Leicester Ford, in his edition of the 
Almanacs. ^^ It has been printed and reprinted again and 
again. In every size from ^ pot duodecimo ' up to ' imperial 
folio'; in thousands for the plow-boy, and in limited and 
privately printed editions at the expense of noblemen ; for the 
^ penny horrible ' hawkers, and for the bibliomaniac ; under the 
titles of ' Father Abraham's Speech,' ' The Way to Wealth,' 
and ^ La Science du Bonhomme Eichard,^ it has proved itself 
one of the most popular American writings." 

Other Works. A great part of Franklin's WTiting was 
of a political character and devoted to some immediate need in 
public events. Indeed if we think of a man of letters as one 
who writes for the amusement of himself or others, or else 
for art's sake, or for some other reason than the effecting a 
particular purpose at a particular time — then we shall not 
call Franklin a true man of letters. For Franklin always 
wrote for some especial purpose; which was probably one 
reason why he wrote so well, for he could usually see the 
effect of what he wrote, and if his work was not effective he 
could correct it. So in political matters Franklin wrote 
with a practical end in view. Still much of what he wrote 
has such an imaginative character that we are inclined to 
call it literature. Thus in 1773 when the difficulties of taxa- 



14 IXTRODUCTION 

tion were reaching a crisis, Franklin, then in London as 
Agent for the Colonies, published two short articles. One 
was called " Eules for reducing a great empire to a small 
one " ; and consists of advice satirically addressed to the 
ministers of all countries which had colonies as troublesome 
and disagreeable as Great Britain's American Colonies, 
They were advised if they wished to get rid of their burden- 
some possessions to do just what the British ministers were 
doing with regard to America at just this time. 

The other piece was also a satire on the ministers' ways of 
governing America. It was called " An Edict of the King 
of Prussia," who was at this time the celebrated Frederick the 
Great. Frederick burlesques the claims of Great Britain 
upon America. Frederick in this edict, claims the right to 
tax Great Britain. England, he says, had certainly been 
settled by Prussians (or Germans as we should say), had 
flourished for ages under the protection of Prussia, and had 
been defended by Prussia in the late war with France. So 
Frederick proceeds to lay upon England taxes such as Great 
Britain had really laid upon America. Such pieces are 
ephemeral; they are meant to amuse people, to make them 
laugh for the nioment. But they are also meant to affect 
public opinion, and these pieces which were immensely suc- 
cessful undoubtedly did influence public opinion. So perhaps 
as much real good was done by Franklin's pieces of irony and 
satire as if he had published as eloquent an exposition of the 
subject as the orations of Burke. 

It is perhaps extending the term " man of letters " a little, 
to speak here of Franklin as an economist, or a student of 
the conditions of the wealth of nations. Yet here, as in 
almost every other branch of human interest, Franklin was 
an inquirer, and what he wrote on these subjects was of such 
value that he has been called the greatest student of political 



IJ^^TRODUCTIO^ * 15 

economy before Adam Smith.^ It is true that Franklin was 
not an economist in the sense of one who scientifically con- 
siders the broad fields of men's activity in business with a 
view merely to deducing the principles and laws of the pro- 
duction, distribution and exchange of wealth. Here as else- 
Avhere Franklin wrote chiefly to accomplish some especial 
purpose, and each publication was the result of his thinking 
out some especial problem. Still, in one place or another 
of his voluminous works he wrote on such subjects as Popu- 
lation and Taxation, Agriculture and Manufacture, Paper 
Money and Interest, Wages and Value, and, as a rule, his 
advice was good and his principles were sound. Thus when 
only twenty-three he wrote the " Modest Enquiry into the Na- 
ture and Necessity of a Paper Currency"; in 1751 he wrote 
" Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind and the 
Peopling of Countries"; in 1769 he wrote "Positions to be 
examined concerning National wealth." And in these writ- 
ings Franklin is always himself, always original; there is 
always the simplicity of expression, the common sense, the 
touch of humor, the broad fairness that we associate with 
him, that we think of as the Franklin quality, and that we 
should recognize as his wherever we met with it. 

franklin's study of the art of writing 

One thing that ought surely to be noticed in our study is 
Franklin's power of writing. We may sometimes be a little 
doubtful whether to think of what he wrote as literature, for 
certainly very little of it is what we think of now as litera- 
ture. But we may certainly call him a man of letters for he 
had the greatest reliance on the power of writing and print- 
ing, and the greatest ability in doing both. His theory of 

* Benjamin Franklin as an Economist in Johns Hopkins University Studies 
in Historical and Political Science. 



16 ■ IXTRODUCTIOX 

writing, too, was simple: writing was simpl}' a convenient 
way of talking to people, of telling them your idea, of 
persuading them to your way of thinking. And as such 
Franklin's art was certainly very efficacious. Once or twice 
he notes in the " Autobiography/' how valuable to him was 
his power of expression. " This was one of the first good 
effects of my having learned a little to scribble" (p. 98) ; 
" This was another advantage gained by my being able to 
write" (p. 102). And we have seen how his usual practice, 
whenever he had some public plan to put through, was to 
write out a plan or a pamphlet. 

All through life he was ready with- his- pen to expound, 
explain, defend. He seems to have felt certain limits. He 
said to Jefferson, when the Declaration of Independence was 
being discussed, that he rarely tried to draw up public papers, 
nor can we think of many which he did produce. But though 
he seems to have felt rather at a loss for the formal style of 
the public document, he felt entirely at home in the plain and 
straightforward style of the pamphleteer or the newspaper 
man, not to speak of the scientist or the experimenter. And 
he was certainly a successful writer. No other American of 
his time wrote so much as he, and no other American was so 
widely read, and certainly nobody else, whether American or 
of any other nation, used his pen as an effectual way of doing 
things, so successfully as Franklin. 

We may therefore well enough desire to know something 
of the secrets of his art. Some of them are certainly secrets 
which we shall never know very much about. One of them 
is his humor; Franklin was never at a loss for a happy 
story or a quaint way of putting things, and we shall no 
more ask for the secret of his ability here than we should 
ask a friend who says funny things, what is his recipe for a 
joke. There are always things about a writer as about any 
other artist that are practically unexplainable. But some of 



INTRODUCTION 17 

his secrets Franklin has explained himself : the " Autobiogra- 
phy " tells us how he made his first steps. He happened upon 
a volume of the Spectator, a paper that has ever since its 
day been a classic. Dr. Johnson's criticism is well known: 
" AYhoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but 
not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his 
days and nights to the volumes of Addison." A " middle 
style " is what Johnson names it, and that is a good name 
for Franklin's style. Not the formal style of the public 
document (as we have seen), and yet with more elegance and 
touch of literature than the merely colloquial. 

The Spectator came to Franklin, however, not as a classic ; 
it was a part of the literature of the day. He read it but a 
few years after it had come out, at a time when perhaps there 
were hardly a score of people in America who had read it at 
all. It shows that he had a sure eye for the good, that this 
printer's apprentice of sixteen years should have been the 
first in America (as far as we know) to appreciate the finest 
piece of prose of his day. Franklin saw at once in the 
Spectator, something that suited him exactly. Some of 
the things that he learned from it he has told us; some we 
can guess at. It is probable that when he came to publish 
an Almanac the idea of inventing such a character as Poor 
Eichard came to him from the Spectator, or perhaps 
from the Tatler which had preceded it. But the partic- 
ular thing which he tells us he especially learned from the 
Spectator was something that perhaps we should not have 
thought of, namely " method in the arrangement of thoughts " 
(p. 42). The language, too, was important and in all proba- 
bility (though he does not say so) the grammar. 

Another thing that he probably got from the Spectator in 
part, although he himself says it came from reading the 
" Memorabilia " of Socrates. This was his way of putting 
things, the civil, insinuating, often ironic manner that should 



18 INTRODUCTION 

steal into one's confidence, instead of trying to batter one 
into agreement. It was of Johnson's arguments that some- 
one complained, saying that if his pistol missed fire, he would 
knock you down with the butt. Franklin who wished for 
results, appreciated that " he who's convinced against his will, 
is of the same opinion still." So the irony of Socrates ap- 
pealed to him. But so also must the humor of Addison 
have done. Addison saw a chance in his Spectator of cor- 
recting foolish customs and improving popular tastes. But 
he saw that such things were not to be accomplished by direct 
attack; people may possibly be laughed out of their follies, 
but they can rarely be talked out of them. Franklin was 
always more ready with the ironic method, was always more 
likely to try to get the public opinion on his side by a laugh 
than by an argument. We notice this even in trifling matters. 
At one time his wife's prayer book was taken from her pew. 
Franklin inserted the following advertisement in the Penn- 
sylvania Gazette, " Taken out of a pew in church, some months 
since, a Common Prayer Book, bound in red gilt, and lettered 
D. F. on each cover. The person who took it is desired to 
open it and read the eighth commandment, and afterwards 
return it into the same pew again; upon which no further 
notice will be taken." 

But perhaps the most important thing to note about 
Franklin's learning to write was the thing itself, the fact that 
he did learn and that he learned by a study of the classics 
of our literature, that he labored and toiled away to find out 
how those did whom he admired. That in itself is a lesson. 
Perhaps all cannot learn in that way, but yet it has one great 
good point about it. People will surely write in some meas- 
ure according to what they have read, for their minds will 
suggest to them the sort of thing with which they are 
familiar. So some kind of reading will be necessary, or 
some sort of hearing the speech of men and women if there 



INTRODUCTION 19 

be no reading, if anyone is to express himself at all. And 
that one's work may have foundation this reading should 
be good. Just as Franklin pored over the Spectator, so 
Lincoln pored over the Bible, and each developed an ex- 
cellent English style. 

FRANKLIN AS A SCIENTIST 

It would be a great omission were we to say nothing of 
Franklin as a scientist, although he says very little on the sub- 
ject in the " Autobiography." But it was as a scientist that 
he was first widely known. When he first went to England 
as Agent for the Colony of Pennsylvania, he was already a 
Fellow of the Eoyal Society, acquainted with a number of 
other members by correspondence, and known to all by repu- 
tation. When he went to France as Commissioner for the 
United States, he was a member of half the learned societies 
of Europe, and known to everyone. It is true that by this 
time his writings had got about; Poor Eichard's maxims 
had been translated into several languages. But it was 
chiefly by his experiments with electricity that Franklin be- 
came world famous. There was something about his ex- 
periments with lightning that impressed the popular mind. 
His political fame came later, and was in some sense ap- 
propriate to it. As Turgot, the great French financier, had 
epigrammatically put it: 

" Eripuit fulmen nubibus sceptrumque tyrannis," which 
we may translate, 

" He snatched the lightning from the clouds, and the 
scepter from tyrants." 

A scientist in the modern sense Franklin was not; he had 
had no scientific education, indeed we have seen that he had 
had little education of any sort except what he had given him- 
self and not only was he without a scientific education, but 



20 IXTRODUCTIOX 

he did not pursue science in any regular and definite manner. 
If anything appeared to Franklin to be going wi'ong he 
generally set himself to thinking of some way to get it 
right, and thus he was equally ready to think of a remedy 
for smoky chimneys and to suggest a paving for muddy 
streets. The first would be more in the way of science than 
the other, but to Franklin they were both matters of prac- 
tical utility. So it was, a bit later, when he invented the 
Franklin stove or Pennsylvania fireplace. Franklin was in- 
terested in a great many things, in science or "natural 
philosophy," as it was called, among the rest. 

His especial attention to electricity, however, did not arise 
from his desire to accomplish any immediate practical good, 
although there were certain applications which he readily 
saw and which perhaps made one of the incentives which 
incited him to work and kept him busy. About the year 
1740 electricity, though little known, was a matter of great 
popular curiosity and interest, echoes of which even came 
over to America. Franklin himself tells us how a certain 
Dr. Spence in Boston in 1746 showed him some electrical 
experiments. These experiments were probably the giving 
of shocks and the producing of sparks from a glass rod 
which was electrified by rubbing. Such forms of electricity 
had been known a long time, but of late a certain develop- 
ment had taken place by the discovery at Leyden in 1745 
of the accumulating of electricity in jars. Little was known 
concerning either kind of apparatus, but everyone was in- 
terested in the sparks and the shocks, and, as the matter 
so far was fairly simple, anyone might experiment for him- 
self. 

Franklin was immensely interested in the experiments ; up 
to this time he had known nothing at all of electricity. 
On returning to Philadelphia he shortly, as he tells us, 
received the electrical apparatus sent by Mr. Collinson, and 



INTRODUCTION 21 

had the opportunity to repeat the experiments he had seen 
in Boston. Everybody was interested; several friends went 
actively into the experimentation with Franklin, and people 
in general crowded his house to see the experiments in which 
candles were lighted, and spirits set fire to, people given 
shocks, and hens and other animals killed. These students 
or experimenters made great advances; Mr. Syng invented 
an electrical machine; Mr. Hopkinson noticed the power 
of points to throw off electricity; Mr. Kinnersley contrived 
several most ingenious experiments; Franklin himself made 
some "important discoveries and developments in the Leyden 
jar, and applied to it the theory of positive and negative 
electricity. But here as elsewhere his thoughts turned to 
practical matters. 

It had already been suggested that this strange new agent 
was the same thing as lightning. It gave a spark like 
lightning, only on a smaller scale; perhaps the snap that 
accompanied the spark might be the same thing as thunder 
on a small scale. Franklin had noticed that electricity was 
attracted to a point. ^Tiy might it not be possible, he 
thought, to use a pointed wire to draw the electricity from 
the clouds and convey it safely to the ground where it would 
not hurt anyone. "Would not these pointed rods probably 
draw the electrical fire silently out of a cloud before it can 
come nigh enough to strike, and thereby secure us from this 
most sudden and terrible mischief ? " His conclusions he 
embodied in a pamphlet which was soon read all over Europe, 
and many students tried the experiments suggested and 
proved them to be successful. Franklin himself did not at 
once try them on a large scale, because he thought that it was 
necessary to have the wire very high, as on a church steeple, 
and Philadelphia at that time had no steeples. An expedient 
occurred to him later, however (1752) ; a wire might be car- 
ried up into the clouds by a non-conducting kite. AVe know 



22 INTRODUCTION^ 

the success of the experiment; its very boldness and quaint- 
ness added to its interest. The world was delighted. 

During these years Franklin was able to devote himself to 
science as he never was again. As time went on, he became 
drawn more and more into public affairs, and the leisure 
which he thought he had gained for quiet study was taken 
up with all sorts of public matters. Still, though never after- 
ward able to carry on his scientific studies with th^ same op- 
portunities as before, Franklin always maintained his scien- 
tific interests. He was always something of an amateur; a 
gentleman experimenting with science for the satisfaction of 
his own interests. But he had in his scientific temper cer- 
tain qualities which many a professed man of science might 
envy. He had a very open mind and great patience to 
observe just what the course of nature was, he had great 
ingenuity in contriving experiments which should bring out 
the facts he wanted, and he had great modesty and simplicity 
in giving accounts of his studies that all could read with 
interest and comprehension, so that they could carry on his 
work from the point where he might have left it. 



1706. Jan. 6. O. S. or 17 N. S. Benjamin Franklin born in 

Boston. 

1714. Goes to Boston Latin school. 

1715. Goes to Mr. George Brownell's school. 

1716. Employed in his father's business. 
1718. Apprenticed to his brother James. 

1723. Oct. Leaves Boston and goes to Philadelphia. 

1724. Apr. Returns to Boston on a visit. 

1724, Sails for London and arrives Dec. 24th. 

1726. July 23. Sails for Philadelphia and goes into business 

with Mr. Denham. 

1727. At the death of Mr. Denham goes into the em- 
ploj^ of Keimer. 

1727. The Junto formed. 



1728. 




1729. 


Oct. 2. 


1730. 


Sept. 1. 


1731. 


July. 


1732. 


Dec. 19. 


1736. 




1737. 




1742. 




1743. 




1744. 




1747. 




1748. 





INTRODUCTION 23 

Goes into business with Meredith. 

Takes over the Pennsylvania Gazette. 

Marriage to Miss Deborah Read. 

Articles of agreement concerning the Library 

Company, his " first project of a public nature." 

First number of Poor Richard's Almanac. 

Chosen Clerk of the Assembly. 

Appointed deputy postmaster. 

Invention of the Franklin stove. 

Proposal for establishing an Academy. 

Proposal for establishing a Philosophical So- 
ciety. 

Association for Defense. 

Resigns his printing-house to David Hall, on a 

partnership arrangement. 
1749. " Observations and Suppositions toward Forming 

a New Hypothesis for Explaining the Several 

Phenomena of Thundergusts." 
1749. Establishment of the Academy. 

1752. Member of the Assembly. 

1752. June» Flies his kite. 

1753. Postmaster-General. 

1754. Congress of Commissioners at Albany. 

1755. Helps Braddock to get transportation. Orders 
the defense of the Northwestern frontier. Pa- 
per on Electricity and Lightning at the Royal 
Society. 

1757. Goes to London as Agent for Pennsylvania. 

1760. June. Approval of the Assembly's Appropriation Bill. 

1762. Aug. Returns to Pennsylvania. 

1763. • The Paxton massacre and consequent troubles. 

1764. Defeated in election for the Assembly, but again 
chosen Special Agent in London. 

1765. The Stamp Act. 

1766. Examination of Franklin in Parliament on the 
subject of American taxation. Repeal of the 
Stamp Act. 

1767. Visits Paris. 

1768. Appointed Agent for Georgia. 

1769. Appointed Agent for New Jersey. 



INTRODUCTION 

Tax on tea, &c. Appointed Agent for Massachu- 
setts. 

Franklin sends to Massachusetts the letters of 
Gov. Hutchinson and others. 

Examination of Franklin before the Privy 
Council. Franklin dismissed from the office of 
Postmaster-General. 
Death of Mrs. Franklin. 

Presents the petition of the First Continental 
Congress to the King. 

Sails from England, reaching Philadelphia 
May 5. 

Chosen a member of the Second Continental Con- 
gress. 

Made Chairman of the Committee of Safety of 
Pennsylvania. 

Member of Assembly. Member of Secret Com- 
mittee of Correspondence. Postmaster-General. 
Commissioner to Canada. 

Member of committee for drafting the Dec- 
laration of Independence. 

Sails as Commissioner to the Court of France. 
Arrives at Paris Dec. 21. His time now occu- 
pied with purchase of stores of war, fitting out 
ships, exchange of prisoners, &c. 

1777. Dee. 12. First meeting with the French Minister for dis- 

cussing a treaty with France. 

1778. Feb. 6. Signing of the Treaties of Alliance and Com- 

merce. 
Sept. 14. Appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court 
of France. 

1782. April. Beginning of negotiations looking to a treaty of 

peace. John Adams and John Jay were asso- 
ciated with Franklin for that purpose. The 
provisional treaty was signed at Paris, Nov. 30, 
1782. It was afterward ratified by Congress 
and in its definitive form was signed Sept. 3, 
1783. 

1785. July 12. Leaves Passy and sails for America: arrives at 

Philadelphia, Sept. 14. 



24 




1770. 




1772. 


Dec. 


1774. 


Feb. 3. 


1774. 


Dec. 19. 


1774. 


Dec. 


1775. 


Mar. 21. 


1775. 


May 5. 




June. 




October. 


1776. 


July. 


1776. 


Oct. 26. 



INTRODUCTION- 25 

1785. Sept. Elected a member of the Supreme Executive 

Council of Pennsylvania, and shortly afterwards 
its President. 

1787. May. Delegate to the Constitutional Convention. 

1790. April 17th. Death of Franklin, at the age of 84, the imme- 
diate cause an abscess in the lungs. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

OF 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

Twyford/ at the Bishop of St. Asaph's, 1771. 

Dear Son : I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any lit- 
tle anecdotes of my ancestors. You may remember the in- 
quiries I made among the remains of my relations when you 
were with me in England,^ and the journey I undertook for 
that purpose. Imagining it may be equally agreeable to 
you to know the circumstances of my life, many of which 
you are yet unacquainted with, and expecting the enjoyment 
of a week's uninterrupted leisure in my present country re- 
tirement, I sit down to write them for you. To which I 
have besides some other inducements. Having emerged 
from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred, 
to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation in the 
world, and having gone so far through life with a con- 
siderable share of felicity, the conducing means I made use of, 
which with the blessing of God ^ so well succeeded, my 
posterity may like to know, as they may find some of them 
suitable to their own situations, and therefore fit to be imi- 
tated. 

^ The country seat of Dr. Jonathan ^ The « ' Autobiography * ' tells us a 

Shipley: the Bishop was a firm good deal about Franklin's religious 

friend of Franklin and of America. beliefs, that may well be put together 

2 Franklin had been accompanied and compared: for instance see espe- 

by his son, on his previous journey to cially p. 91. 
England, as will be noted on p. 216. 

27 



28 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

That felicity, when I reflected on it, has induced me some- 
times to say, that were it offered to my choice, I should have 
no objection to a repetition of the same life from its be- 
ginning, only asking the advantages authors have in a second 
edition to correct some faults of the first. So I might, 
besides correcting the faults, change some sinister * accidents 
and events of it for others more favorable. But though this 
were denied, I should still accept the offer. Since such a 
repetition is not to be expected, the next thing most like 
living one's life over again seems to be a recollection of that 
life, and to make that recollection as durable as possible by 
putting it down in writing. 

Hereby, too, I shall indulge the inclination so natural in 
old men, to be talking of themselves and their own past 
actions; and I shall indulge it without being tiresome to 
others, who, through respect to age, might conceive them- 
selves obliged to give me a hearing, since this may be read 
or not as an3^one pleases. And, lastly (I may as well confess 
it, since my denial of it will be believed by nobody), perhaps 
I shall a good deal gratify my own vanity. Indeed, I scarce 
ever heard or saw the introductory words, "" Without vanity, 
I may say/' etc., but some vain thing immediately followed. 
Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they 
may have of it themselves ; but I give it fair quarter wherever 
I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive 
of good to the possessor, and to others that are within his 
sphere of action; and therefore, in many cases, it would 
not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for 
his vanity among the other comforts of life. 

And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with all humil- 
ity to acknowledge that I owe the mentioned happiness of 
my past life to His kind providence, which led me to the 
means I used and gave them success. My belief of this 

* Just what does Franklin mean by this word? 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 29 

induces me to hope, though I must not presume, that the 
same, goodness will still be exercised toward me, in con- 
tinuing that happiness, or enabling me to bear a fatal re- 
verse, which I may experience as others have done; the 
complexion of my future fortune being known to Him only 
in whose power it is to bless to us even our afflictions. 

The notes one of my uncles (who had the same kind of 
curiosity in collecting family anecdotes) once put into my 
hands, furnished me with several particulars relating to our 
ancestors. From these notes I learned that the family had 
lived in the same village, Ecton,^ in Northamptonshire, for 
three hundred years, and how much longer he knew not (per- 
haps from the time when the name of Franklin, that before 
was the name of an order of people,® was assumed by them 
as a surname when others took surnames all over the king- 
dom), on a freehold of about thirty acres, aided by the smith's 
business, which had continued in the family till his time, 
the eldest son being always bred to that business; a custom 
which he and my father followed as to their eldest sons. 
When I searched the registers at Ecton, I found an account 
of their births, marriages, and burials from the year 1555 
only, there being no registers kept in that parish at any time 
preceding. By that register I perceived that I was the 
youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back 
My grandfather Thomas, who was born in 1598, lived at 
Ecton till he grew too old to follow business longer, when he 
went to live with his son John, a dyer at Banbury, in Oxford- 
shire, with whom my father served an apprenticeship. There 
my grandfather died and lies buried. We saw his grave- 

^ It is a curious fact that it was in used to be the name of an order or 

Northamptonshire, and not very far rank in society, Chaucer's Franklin 

from Ecton, that the ancestors of was a country gentleman of hospi- 

George Washington had estates. tality and character. 

° Readers of Chaucer's "Pro- " An householder, and that a great, 

logue " will remember that Franklin was he." 



30 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIX FRANKLIN 

stone in 1T58. His eldest son Thomas lived in the house 
at Ecton, and left it with the land to his only child, a 
daughter, who, with her husband, one Fisher, of Welling- 
borough, sold it to Mr. Isted, now lord of the manor there. 
My grandfather had four sons that grew up, viz. : Thomas, 
John, Benjamin, and Josiah. I will give j^ou what account 
I can of them, at this distance from my papers, and if these 
are not lost in my absence, you will among them find many 
more particulars. 

Thomas was bred a smith under his father; but, being 
ingenious, and encouraged in learning (as all my brothers 
were) b}' an Esquire Palmer, then the principal gentleman in 
that parish, he qualified himself for the business of scrivener ; '^ 
became a considerable man in the county ; was a chief mover 
of all public-spirited undertakings for the county or town 
of Xorthampton, and his own village, of which many in- 
stances were related of him; and much taken notice of and 
patronized b}^ the then Lord Halifax. He died in 1702, 
January 6, old style,^ just four years to a day before I was 
born. The account we received of his life and character 
from some old people at Ecton, I remember, struck you as 
something extraordinary, from its similarity to what you knew 
of mine. " Had he died on the same day," you said, " one 
might have supposed a transmigration." 

John was bred a dyer, I believe, of woolens. Benjamin 
was bred a silk-dyer, serving an apprenticeship at London. 
He was an ingenious man. I remember him well, for when I 
was a boy he came over to my father in Boston, and lived in 

" A man whose business it was to * That is, according to the Julian 

draw up contracts and other such law Calendar The New Style, now usual, 

papers. One of the characteristics accords with the Gregorian Calendar: 

of this uncle that came out strongly it was, at this time, eleven days ahead 

in his nephew, was that he was "a of the Old. This date would be Jan. 

chief mover of all public spirited 17, N. S. The change was made in 

undertakings for the country or England in 1751. 
town." 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN ERANKLIN 31 

the house with us some years. He lived to a great age. His 
grandson, Samuel Franklin, now lives in Boston. He left 
behind him two quarto volumes, MS., of his own poetry, con- 
sisting of little occasional pieces addressed to his friends and 
relations, of which the following, sent to me, is a specimen.*^ 
He had formed a shorthand of his own, which he taught me, 
but, never practicing it, I have now forgot it. I was named 
after this uncle, there being a particular affection between 
him and my father. He was very pious, a great attender of 
sermons of the best preachers, which he took down in his 
shorthand,^^ and had with him many volumes of them. He 
was also much of a politician; too much, perhaps, for his 
station. There fell lately into my hands, in London, a collec- 
tion he had made of all the principal pamphlets relating to 
public affairs, from 1641 to 1717; many of the volumes are 
wanting as appears by the numbering, but there still remain 
eight volumes in folio, and twenty-four in quarto and in 
octavo. A dealer in old books met with them, and knowing 
me by my sometimes buying of him, he brought them to me. 
It seems my uncle must have left them here when he went to 
America, which was about fifty years since. There are many 
of his notes in the margins. 

This obscure family of ours was early in the Eeformation,^ 
and continued Protestants through the reign of Queen Mary,- 
when they were sometimes in danger of trouble on account 
of their zeal against popery. They had got an English 
Bible, and to conceal and secure it, it was fastened open with 
tapes under and within the cover of a joint-stool.^ When 

^ The specimen was never inserted. ^ i. e. became Protestant. 

i<> Shorthand has been known for a ^ Mary was a Catholic, and, though 

long time : it originated about the she reigned bujt five years, made a 

time of the invention of printing. vigorous effort to bring England back 

In the 17th and 18th centuries there to the Catholic church, 

were several systems published, and ^ originally ' ' joined-stonl," or 

doubtless many persons, like Frank- stool made carefully of joined wood, 
lin's uncle, devised their own sys- 
tems. 



32 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIX FRAXKLIX 

my great-great-grandfather read it to his family, he turned up 
the joint-stool upon his knees, turning over the leaves then 
under the tapes. One of the children stood at the door to 
give notice if he saw the ajiparitor coming, who was an 
officer of the spiritual court.* In that case the stool was 
turned down again upon its feet, when the Bible remained 
concealed under it as before. This anecdote I had from my 
uncle Benjamin. The family continued all of the Church 
of England till about the end of Charles the Second's reign, 
when some of the ministers that had been outed ^ for non- 
conformity ^ holding conventicles "^ in Northamptonshire, 
Benjamin and Josiah adhered to them, and so continued all 
their lives : the rest of the family remained with the Episcopal 
Church. 

Josiah, my father, married young, and carried his wife with 
three children into Xew England, about 1682. The conven- 
ticles having been forbidden by law, and frequently disturbed, 
induced some considerable men of his acquaintance to re- 
move to that country, and he was prevailed with to accom- 
pany them thither, where they expected to enjoy their mode 
of religion with freedom. By the same wife he had four 
children more born there, and by a second wife ten more, in 
all seventeen; of which I remember thirteen sitting at one 
time at his table, who all grew up to be men and women, and 
married; I was the youngest son, and the youngest child but 
two, and was born in Boston, New England. My mother, 
the second wife, was.Abiah Folger, daughter of Peter Folger, 
one of the first settlers of Xew England, of whom honorable 

* The Church had at that time, as ica arose from non-conformity to the 

earlier, much legal and judicial power Church of England, 

which it has since lost. '^ Assemblies of those who would 

^ put out of their positions. not join the regular Church of Eng- 

" not following the regular practice land service. The word was first 

of the established church. Several applied to the covenanters of Scot- 

of the largest and most important of land, but was later used for any non- 

the Protestant denominations in Amer- conformist meeting. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 33 

mention is made by Cotton Mather,^ in his church history of 
that country, entitled " Magnalia Christi Americana/' ^ as "" a 
godly, learned Englishman/' if I remember the words rightly. 
I have heard that he wrote sundry small occasional ^ pieces, 
but only one of them was printed, which I saw now many 
years since. It was written in 1675, in the homespun verse 
of that time and people, and addressed to those then con- 
cerned in the government there. It was in favor of liberty 
of conscience, and in behalf of the Baptists, Quakers, and 
other sectaries that had been under persecution, ascribing the 
Indian wars, and other distresses that had befallen the coun- 
try, to that persecution, as so many judgments of God to 
punish so heinous an oifense, and exhorting a repeal of those 
uncharitable laws. The whole appeared to me as written 
with a good deal of decent plainness and manly freedom. 
The six concluding lines I remember, though I have for- 
gotten the two first of the stanza ; but the purport of them was, 
that his censures proceeded from good-will, and, therefore, 
he would be known to be the author. 

"Because to be a libeler (says he) 

I hate it with my heart; 
From Sherburne 2 town, where now I dwell, 

My name I do put here; 
Without offense your real friend, 

It is Peter Folgier." 

My elder brothers were all put apprentices to different 
trades. I was put to the grammar-school ^ at eight years of 
age, my father intending to devote me, as the tithe of his 
sons, to the service of the Church. My early readiness in 

8 Cotton Mather, 1663-1728, was ^ The name means "the great 

the most widely known and distin- things of Christ in America." 

guished New England clergyman of ^ On different occasions, 

his day. He wrote a great many - now Nantucket, 

books, though the "Magnalia" is ^ It will he seen later that this 

the only one much remembered. was a school for the study of Ian- 



34 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

learning to read (which must have been very early, as I do 
not remember when I could not read), and the opinion of all 
his friends, that I should certainly make a good scholar, en- 
couraged him in this purpose of his. My uncle Benjamin, 
too, approved of it, and proposed to give me all his short- 
hand volumes of sermons, I suppose as a stock to set up 
with, if I would learn his character.* I continued, however, 
at the grammar-school not quite one year, though in that 
time I had risen gradually from the middle of the class of 
that year to be the head of it, and farther was removed into 
the next class above it, in order to go with that into the 
third at the end of the year. But my father in the mean- 
time, from a view of the expense of a college education, 
which having so large a family he could not well afford, and 
the mean living many so educated were afterwards able to 
obtain — reasons that he gave to his friends in my hearing 
— altered his first intention, took me from the grammar- 
school, and sent me to a school for writing and arithmetic, 
kept by a then famous man, Mr. George Brownell, very 
successful in his profession generally, and that by mild, en- 
couraging methods. Under him I acquired fair writing 
pretty soon, but I failed in the arithmetic, and made no 
progress in it. At ten years old I was taken home to assist 
my father in his business, which was that of a tallow-chandler 
and soap-boiler; a business he was not bred to, but had 
assumed on his arrival in New England, and on finding his 
dyeing trade would not maintain his family, being in little 
request. Accordingly, I was employed in cutting wick for 
the candles, filling the dipping mold and the molds for cast 
candles, attending the shop, going of errands, etc. 

I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclination for the 
sea,^ but my father declared against it; however, living near 

guages (Greek and Latin) rather ^his shorthand, as on p. 31. 

than writing and arithmetic. It is 5 See pp. 38, 39, 50. 

now the Boston Latin School. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 35 

the water, I was much m and about it, learned early to swim 
well, and to manage boats; and when in a boat or canoe with 
other boj'S I was commonly allowed to govern, especially in 
any case of difficulty; and upon other occasions I was gener- 
ally a leader ^ among the boys, and sometimes led them into 
scrapes, of which I will mention one instance, as it shows an 
early projecting public spirit, though not then justly con- 
ducted. 

There was a salt-marsh that bounded part of the mill- 
pond, on the edge of which, at high-water, we used to stand 
to fish for minnows. By much trampling we had made it a 
mere quagmire. My proposal was to build a wharf there fit 
for us to stand upon, and I showed my comrades a large 
heap of stones, which were intended for a new house near 
the marsh, and which would very well suit our purpose. 
Accordingly, in the evening, wdien the workmen were gone, 
I assembled a number of my playfellows, and working 
with them diligently like so many emmets,'' sometimes two 
or three to a stone, we brought them all away and built our 
little wharf. The next morning the workmen were sur- 
prised at missing the stones, which were found in our wharf. 
Inquiry was made after the removers; we were discovered 
and complained of; several of us were corrected l)y our 
fathers; and, though I pleaded the usefulness of the work, 
mine convinced me that nothing was useful which was not 
honest. 

I think you may like to know something of his person and 
character. He had an excellent constitution of body, was of 
middle stature, but well set, and very strong; he was ingeni- 
ous, could draw prettily, was skilled a little in music, and had 
a clear, pleasing voice, so that when he played psalm tunes on 
his violin and sung withal, as he sometimes did in an evening 

8 A characteristic that endured through life. 
' ants. 



36 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN . 

after the business of the day was over, it was extremely agree- 
able to hear. He had a mechanical genius, too, and on occa- 
sion was very handy in the use of other tradesmen's tools; 
but his great excellence lay in a sound understanding and 
solid judgment in prudential matters, both in private and 
public affairs. In the latter, indeed, he was never employed, 
the numerous family he had to educate and the straitness of 
his circumstances ^ keeping him close to his trade ; but I re- 
member well his being frequently visited by leading people, 
who consulted him for his opinion in affairs of the town or of 
the church he belonged to, and showed a good deal of respect 
for his judgment and advice; he was also much consulted by 
private persons about their affairs when any difficulty oc- 
curred, and frequently chosen an arbitrator between contend- 
ing parties. At his table he liked to have, as often as he 
could, some sensible friend or neighbor to converse with, and 
always took care to start some ingenious or useful topic for 
discourse, which might tend to improve the minds of his 
children. By this means he turned our attention to what was 
good, just, and prudent in the conduct of life ; and little or no 
notice was ever taken of what related to the victuals on the 
table, whether it was well or ill dressed, in or out of season, 
of good or bad flavor, preferable or inferior to this or that 
other thing of the kind, so that I was brought up in such a 
perfect inattention to those matters as to be quite indifferent 
what kind of food was set before me, and so unobservant of it, 
that to this day if I am asked I can scarce tell a few hours 
after dinner what I dined upon. This has been a convenience 
to me in traveling, where my companions have been some- 
times very unhappy for want of a suitable gratification of 
their more delicate, because better instructed, tastes and ap- 
petites. 

My mother had likewise an excellent constitution; she 

^ narrow circumstances. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 37 

suckled all her ten children. I never knew either my father 
or mother to have any sickness but that of which they died, 
he at 89, and she at 85 years of age. They lie buried to- 
gether at Boston, where I some years since placed a marble 
over their grave, with this inscription: 

JosiAH Franklin 

and 

Abiah his wife, 

lie here interred. 

They lived lovingly together in wedlock 

fifty-five years. 

Without an estate, or any gainful employment,^ 

By constant labor and industry, 

with God's blessing, 
They maintained a large family 

comfortably, 

and brought up thirteen children 

and seven grandchildren 

reputably. 

From this instance, reader. 

Be encouraged to diligence in thy calling, 

And distrust not Providence. 

He was a pious and prudent man; 

She, a discreet and virtuous woman. 

Their youngest son, 

In filial regard to their memory. 

Places this stone. 

J. F., born 1655, died 1744, .^tat 89. 

A. F. born 1667, died 1752, 85. 

By my rambling digressions I perceive myself to be grown 
old. I used to write more methodically. But one does not 
dress for private company as for a public ball. 'Tis perhaps 
only negligence. 

To return : I continued thus employed in my father's busi- 

This means that they had no private property nor public employment. 
Of course they had plenty of private employment. 



38 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

ness for two years, that is, till I was twelve years old; and 
my brother John, who was bred to that business, having left 
my father, married, and set np for himself at Rhode Island, 
there was all appearance that I was destined to supply his 
place, and become a tallow-chandler. But my dislike to the 
trade continuing, my father was under apprehensions that if 
he did not find one for me more agreeable, I should break 
away and get to sea, as his son Josiah had done, to his great 
vexation. He therefore sometimes took me to walk with him, 
and see joiners, bricklayers, turners, braziers, etc., at their 
work, that he might observe my inclination, and endeavor to 
fix it on some trade or other on land. It has ever since been 
a pleasure to me to see good workmen handle their tools ; and 
it has been useful to me, having learned so much by it as to 
be able to do little jobs myself in my house when a workman 
could not readily be got, and to construct little machines for 
my experiments, while the intention of making the experi- 
ment was fresh and warm in my mind. My father at last 
fixed upon the cutler's trade, and my uncle Benjamin's son 
Samuel, who was bred to that business in London, being about 
that time established in Boston, I was sent to be with him 
some time on liking. But his expectations of a fee with me ^ 
displeasing my father, I was taken home again. 

From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little 
money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. 
Pleased with the " Pilgrim's Progress," my first collection was 
of John Bunyan's works ^ in separate little volumes. I after- 
ward sold them to enable me to buy R. Burton's Historical 
Collections; they were small chapmen's books,^ and cheap, 

iJt was customary to pay a fee for bered beside the " Pilgrim's Prog- 
apprenticeship, but Mr. Franklin ap- ress." 

parently thought that this should be ^ 'Sow commonly called " chap- 
waived between relations, books"; popular literature carried 

2 Bunyan wrote many books al- about by chapmen or peddlers. See 

though only two or three are remem- p. 102. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 39 

40 or 50 in all. My father's little library consisted chiefly 
of books in polemic divinity, most of which I read, and have 
since often regretted that, at a time when I had such a thirst 
for knowledge, more proper books had not fallen in my way, 
since it was now resolved I should not be a clergyman. 
" Plutarch's Lives " there was in which I read abundantly, and 
I still think that time spent to great advantage. There was 
also a book of De Foe's, called an " Essay on Projects," * and 
another of Dr. Mather's, called '^ Essay to do Good," ^ which 
perhaps gave me a turn of thinking that had an influence on 
some of the principal future events of my life. 

This bookish inclination at length determined my father 
to make me a printer, though he had already one son (James) 
of that profession. In 1717 my brother James returned 
from England with a press and letters to set up his business 
in Boston. I liked it much better than that of my father, 
but still had a hankering for the sea, To prevent the ap- 
prehended effect of such an inclination, my father was im- 
patient to have me bound to my brother. I stood out some 
time, but at last was persuaded, and signed the indentures 
when I was yet but twelve years old. I was to serve as an 
apprentice till I was twenty-one years of age, only I was to 
be allowed journeyman's wages during the last year. In a 
little time I made great proficiency in the business, and be- 
came a useful hand to my brother. I now had access to 
better books. An acquaintance with the apprentices of book- 

* One of the earliest of DeFoe's sessor that several leaves of it were 

works, published in 1697. torn out, but the remainder gave me 

= This book by Cotton Mather, had such a turn of thinking, as to have 

been published in 1710. Franklin an influence on my conduct through 

later wrote of it in a letter to Rich- life : for I have always set a greater 

ard Mather; "When I was a boy, I value on the character of a doer of 

met a book entitled ' Essays to do good than any other kind of seputa- 

Good, ' [Essays, here, means endeav- tion: and if I have been as you seem 

ors or attempts] which I think was to think a useful citizen, the public 

written by your father. It had been owes all the advantage of it to that 

so little regarded by its former pos- book." 



40 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

sellers enabled me sometimes to borrow a small one, which I 
was careful to return soon and clean. Often I sat up in my 
room reading the greatest part of the night, when the book 
was borrowed in the evening and to be returned early in the 
morning, lest it should be missed or wanted. 

And after some time an ingenious tradesman, Mr. Mat- 
thew Adams, who had a pretty ^ collection of books, and who 
frequented our printing-house, took notice of me, invited me 
to his library, and very kindly lent me such books as I chose 
to read. I now took a fancy to poetry, arid made some little 
pieces; my brother, thinking it might turn to account, en- 
couraged me, and put me on composing occasional ballads. 
One was called " The Lighthouse Tragedy," and contained an 
account of the drowning of Captain Worthilake, with his two 
daughters ; ^ the other was a sailor's song, on the taking of 
Teach (or Blackbeard) the pirate.^ They were wretched 
stuff, in the Grubstreet-ballad style; and when they were 
printed he sent me about the town to sell them. The first 
sold wonderfully, the event being recent, having made a great 
noise. This flattered my vanity; but my father discouraged 
me by ridiculing my performances, and telling me verse- 
makers were generally beggars. So I escaped being a poet, 
most probably a very bad one ; but as prose writing ^ has been 
of great use to me in the course of my life, and was a princi- 
pal means of my advancement, I shall tell you how, in such 
a situation, I acquired what little ability I have in that way. 

There was another bookish lad in the town, John Collins by 
name, with whom I was intimately acquainted. We some- 
times disputed, and very fond we were of argument, and very 
desirous of confuting one another, which disputatious turn, 
by the way, is apt to become a very bad habit, making people 

6 good. a famous name in the annals of 

^ Capt. "Worthilake, keeper of the piracy. 

Boston Light. » For a little study of Franklin's 

** Ned Teach, or Blackbeard, was methods, see Introd. p. 15. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPPIY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 41 

often extremely disagreeable in company by the contradiction 
that is necessary to bring it into practice ; and thence, besides 
souring and spoiling the conversation, is productive of dis- 
gusts and perhaps enmities where you may have occasion for 
friendship. I had caught it by reading my father's books 
of dispute about religion. Persons of good sense, I have 
since observed, seldom fall into it, except lawyers, university 
men, and men of all sorts that have been bred at Edinburgh.^® 

A question was once, somehow or other, started between 
Collins and me, of the propriety of educating the female sex 
in learning, and their abilities for study. He was of opinion 
that it was improper, and that they were naturally unequal to 
it. I took the contrary side, perhaps a little for dispute's sake. 
He was naturally more eloquent, had a ready plenty of words ; 
and sometimes, as I thought, bore me down more by his flu- 
ency than by the strength of his reasons. As we parted with- 
out settling the point, and were not to see one another again 
for some time, I sat down to put my arguments in writing, 
which I copied fair and sent to him. He answered, and I 
replied. Three or four letters of a side had passed, when my 
father happened to find my papers and read them. Without 
entering into the discussion, he took occasion to talk to me 
about the manner of my writing ; observed that, though I had 
the advantage of my antagonist in correct spelling and point- 
ing (which I owed to the printing-house), I fell far short in 
elegance of expression, in method and in perspicuity, of which 
he convinced me by several instances. I saw the justice of 
his remarks, and thence grew more attentive to the manner in 
writing, and determined to endeavor at improvement. 

About this time I met with an odd volume of the Spectator}'^ 

1" Perhaps Franklin has in mind imitations, besides being a model to 

Scotchmen in general. thousands of students like Franklin. 

'^ The famous periodical series of We may remember that at this time 

tfesays by Addison and others. It it was almost contemporary litera- 

was an immense influence in litera- ture, having been published only 

ture, and had literally hundreds of eight years before. 



42 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

It was the third. I had never before seen any of them. I 
bought it, read it over and over, and was much delighted with 
it. I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, 
to imitate it. With this view I took some of the papers, and, 
making short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid 
them by a few days, and then, without looking at the book, 
tried to complete the papers again, by expressing each hinted 
sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed be- 
fore, in any suitable words that should come to hand. Then 
I compared my Spectator with the original, discovered some of 
my faults, and corrected them. But I found I wanted a stock 
of words, or a readiness in recollecting and using them, which 
I thought I should have acquired before that time if I had 
gone on making verses ; since the continual occasion for words 
of the same import, but of different length, to suit the meas- 
ure, or of different sound for the rhyme, would have laid me 
under a constant necessity of searching for variety, and also 
have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make me 
master of it. Therefore I took some of the tales and turned 
them into verse ; and, after a time, when I had pretty well for- 
gotten the prose, turned them back again. I also sometimes 
jumbled my collections of hints into confusion, and after 
some weeks endeavored to reduce them into the best order, 
before I began to form the full sentences and complete the 
paper. This was to teach me method in the arrangement 
of thoughts. By comparing my work afterwards with the 
original, I discovered many faults and amended them; but 
I sometimes had the pleasure of fancying that, in certain 
pai-ticulars of small import, I had been lucky enough to im- 
prove the method or the language, and this encouraged me to 
think I might possibly in time come to be a tolerable English 
wi'iter, of which I was extremely ambitious. My time for 
tlicse exercises and for reading was at night, after work or 
Ijcioj-e it began in the morning, or on Sundays, when I con- 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 43 

trived to be in the printing-house alone, evading as much as 
I could the common ^ attendance on public worship which my 
father used to exact of me when I was under his care, and 
which indeed I still thought a duty, though I could not, as it 
seemed to me, afford time to practice it. 

When about 16 years of age I happened to meet with a book, 
written by one Tryon, recommending a vegetable diet. I 
determined to go into it. My brother, being yet unmarried, 
did not keep house, but boarded himself and his apprentices 
in another family. My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an in- 
conveniency, and I was frequently chid for my singularity. 
I made myself acquainted with Tryon's manner of preparing 
some of his dishes, such as boiling potatoes or rice, making 
hasty-pudding, and a few others, and then proposed to my 
brother, that if he would give me, weekly, half the money he 
paid for my board, I would board myself. He instantly 
agreed to it, and I presently found that I could save half 
what he paid me. This was an additional fund for buying 
books. But I had another advantage in it. My brother and 
the rest going from the printing-house to their meals, I re- 
mained there alone, and dispatching presently my light repast, 
which often was no more than a biscuit or a slice of bread, a 
handful of raisins or a tart from the pastry-cook's, and a glass 
of water, had the rest of the time till their return for study, 
in which I made the greater progress, from that greater clear- 
ness of head and quicker apprehension which usually attend 
temperance in eating and drinking. 

And now it was that, being on some occasion made ashamed 
of my ignorance in figures, which I had twice failed in learn- 
ing when at school, I took Cocker's book of Arithmetic,^ and 
went through the whole by myself with great ease. I also 

^ general. came into such general use that ' ' ac- 

2 The " Vulgar Arithmetic " of Ed- cording to Cocker" was for a long 
ward Cocker, published about 1678 time a well-known expression. 



i-i THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAM-IN FRAXKLIX 

read Seller's and Shermy's books of Navigation/ and became 
acquainted with the little geometry they contained ; but never 
proceeded far in that science. And I read about this time 
Locke "On Human Understanding/'* and the "Art of 
Thinking," by Messrs. du Port Eoyal.^ 

While I was intent on improving my language, I met with 
an English grammar (I think it was Greenwood's), at the end 
of which there were two little sketches of the arts of rhetoric 
and logic, the latter finishing with a specimen of a dispute in 
the Socratic method; and soon after I procured Xenophon's 
" Memorable Things of Socrates," ^ wherein there are many 
instances of the same method. I was charmed with it, 
adopted it, dropped my abrupt contradiction and positive 
argumentation, and put on the humble inquirer and doubter. 
And being then, from reading Shaftesbury ^ and Collins,^ be- 
come a real doubter in many points of our religious doctrine, 
I found this method safest for myself and very embarrassing 
to those against whom I used it ; therefore I took a delight in 

3 Perhaps with a view of becoming edge of the classics; a principle 

a sailor. which would naturally have appealed 

* The ' ' Essay on the Human Un- to Franklin, 
derstanding " was for a long time the ^commonly called the " Memora- 
classic work in English on Psychol- bilia." Socrates is more usually 
ogy and Philosophy. Locke traced studied in the works of Plato. But 
all ideas to observation and experi- Xenophon was also a student of Soc- 
ence, believing that none of them rates, and his account gives a some- 
were innate. His theory is easily what different view of the great 
remembered by his comparison of the teacher. 

mind to a piece of white paper, on ^ Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1671- 

which observation and experience of 1713, 3d earl of Shaftesbury and au- 

the world makes each one's record. thor of " Characteristics of Men, 

^ Port Royal was a celebrated con- Manners, Opinions, Times," 1711. 

vent near Paris. Beside its nuns it Though commonly regarded as hostile 

was, in the 17th century, the resort to Christianity, Shaftesbury like 

of many laymen. They maintained Franklin, had at bottom a religious 

schools for which they prepared a nature. 

number of text books, of which the « Anthony Collins, 1676-1729, au- 

book here mentioned was one. Their thor of " A Discourse of Free Think- 

general principle was to encourage ing," 1713, a book generally taken 

ability in using the mother tongue as a plea for Deism, 
and in thinking, rather than a knowl- 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJxOIIX FRANKLIN 45 

it, practiced it continually, and grew very artful and expert 
in drawing people, even of superior knowledge, into conces- 
sions, the consequences of which they did not foresee, 
entangling them in difficulties out of which they could not ex- 
tricate themselves, and so obtaining victories that neither my- 
self nor my cause always deserved. I continued this method 
some few years, but gradually left it, retaining only the habit 
of expressing myself in terms of modest diffidence; never 
using, when I advanced anything that may possibly be dis- 
puted, the words certainly, undoubtedly, or any others that 
give the air of positiveness to an opinion; but rather say, I 
conceive or apprehend a thing to be so and so; it appears to 
me, or I should think it so or so, for such and such reasons ; 
or I imagine it to he so; or it is so, if I am not mistaken. 
This habit, I believe, has been of great advantage to me 
when I have had occasion to inculcate my opinions, and per- 
suade men ^ into measures that I have been from time to 
time engaged in promoting; and, as the chief ends of conversa- 
tion are to inform or to be informed, to please, or to persuade, 
I wish well-meaning, sensible men would not lessen their 
power of doing good by a positive, assuming manner, that 
seldom fails to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to 
defeat every one of those purposes for which speech was 
given to us, towit, giving or receiving information or 
pleasure.^ For, if you would inform, a positive and dogmat- 
ical manner in advancing your sentiments may provoke 
contradiction and prevent a candid attention. If you wish 
information and improvement from the knowledge of others, 
and yet at the same time express yourself as firmly fixed in 
your present opinions, modest, sensible men, who do not love 
disputation, will probably leave you undisturbed in the posses- 
sion of your error. And by such a manner you can seldom 

^ See Franklin's statement of his method later. 

1 Like so many of Franklin's ideas, full of common sense. 



46 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

hope to recommend yourself in pleasing your hearers, or to 
persuade those whose concurrence you desire. Pope says, 
judiciously : 

" Men should be taught as if you taught them not. 
And things unknown proposed as things forgot; " 

farther recommending to us 

" To speak, tho' sure, with seeming diffidence." 

And he might have coupled with this line that which he has 
coupled with another, I think, less properly: 

" For want of modesty is want of sense." 
If you ask, ^Vhy less properly ? I must repeat the lines : 

" Immodest words admit of no defense. 
For want of modesty is want of sense." 

Now, is not want of sense (where a man is so unfortunate 
as to want it) some apology for his want of modesty? and 
would not the lines stand more justly thus? 

" Immodest words admit hut this defense. 
That want of modesty is want of sense." 

This, however, I should submit to better judgments. 

My brother had, in 1720 or 1721, begun to print a news- 
paper. It was the second that appeared in America, and was 
called the Neiv England Courant. The only one before it 
was the Boston News Letter.^ I remember his being dis- 
suaded by some of his friends from the undertaking, as not 
likely to succeed, one newspaper being, in their judgment, 

2 It seems that Franklin's memory appearing in America. The New Eng- 

was here in error. His brother had land Courant, however, was the 

been the printer, in 1719, of the fourth. 
Boston Gazette, the second newspaper 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 47 

enough for America. At this time (1771) there are not less 
than five-and-twenty. He went on, however, with the under- 
taking, and after having worked in composing the types and 
printing oif the sheets, I was employed to carry the papers 
through the streets to the customers. 

He had some ingenious men among his friends, who amused 
themselves by writing little pieces for this paper, which gained 
it credit and made it more in demand, and these gentlemen 
often visited us. Hearing their conversations and their ac- 
counts of the approbation their papers were received with, I 
was excited to try my hand among them; but, being still a 
boy, and suspecting that my brother would object to printing 
anything of mine in his paper if he knew it to be mine, I 
contrived to disguise my hand, and, writing an anonymous 
paper, I put it in at night under the door of the printing- 
house. It was found in the morning, and communicated to 
his writing friends when they called in as usual. They read 
it, commented on it in my hearing, and I had the exquisite 
pleasure of finding it met with their approbation, and that, in 
their different guesses at the author, none were named but 
men of some character among us for learning and ingenuity. 
I suppose now that I was rather lucky in my judges, and that 
perhaps they were not really so very good ones as I then es- 
teemed them. 

Encouraged, however, by this, I wrote and conveyed in the 
same way to the press several more papers, which were equally 
approved; and I kept my secret till my small fund of sense 
for such performances was pretty well exhausted, and then I 
discovered it, when I began to be considered a little more by 
my brother's acquaintance, and in a manner that did not 
quite please him, as he thought, probably with reason, that it 
tended to make me too vain. And perhaps this might be one 
occasion ^ of the differences that we began to have about this 



48 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

time. Though a brother, he considered himself as my master, 
and me as his apprentice, and accordingly expected the same 
services from me as he would from another, while I thought 
he demeaned ^ me too much in some he required of me, who 
from a brother expected more indulgence. Our disputes were 
often brought before our father, and I fancy I was either 
generally in the right, or else a better pleader, because the 
judgment was generally in my favor. But my brother was 
passionate, and had often beaten me, which I took extremely 
amiss; and, thinking my apprenticeship very tedious, I was 
continually wishing for some opportunity of shortening it, 
which at length offered in a manner unexpected. 

One of the pieces in our newspaper on some political point, 
which I have now forgotten, gave offense to the Assembly. 
He was taken up, censured, and imprisoned for a month, by 
the Speaker's ^ warrant, I suppose, because he would not dis- 
cover ^ his author. I too was taken up and examined before 
the council ; but, though I did not give them any satisfaction, 
they contented themselves with admonishing me, and dis- 
missed me, considering me, perhaps, as an apprentice, who 
was bound to keep his master's secrets. 

During my brother's confinement, which I resented a good 
deal, notwithstanding our private differences, I had the man- 
agement of the paper; and I made bold to give our rulers 
some rubs in it, which my brother took very kindly, while 
others began to consider me in an unfavorable light, as a 
young genius that had a turn for libeling and satire. My 
brother's discharge was accompanied with an order of the 
House (a very odd one), that ''James Franklin should no 
longer print the paper called the New England Courant." 

There was a consultation held in our printing-house among 
his friends, what he should do in this case. Some proposed 

* lowered in condition or opinion. ^ reveal, 

° of the Assembly. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN ERANKLIN 49 

to evade the order by changing the name of the paper; but 
my brother seeing inconveniences in that, it vi^as finally con- 
cluded on as a better way, to let it be printed for the future 
under the name of Benjamin Franklin; and to avoid the 
censure of the Assembly, that might fall on him as still 
printing it by his apprentice, the contrivance was that my 
old indenture should be returned to me, with a full discharge 
on the back of it, to be shown on occasion, but to secure to 
him the benefit of my service I was to sign new indentures for 
the remainder of the term, which were to be kept private^ 
A very flimsy scheme it was; however, it was immediately 
executed, and the paper went on accordingly, under my name 
for several months. 

At length, a fresh difference arising between my brother 
and me, I took upon me to assert my freedom, presuming that 
he would not venture to produce the new indentures. It was 
not fair in me to take this advantage, and this I therefore 
reckon one of the first errata ^ of my life ; but the unfairness 
of it weighted little with me, when under the impressions of 
resentment for the blows his passion too often urged him to 
bestow upon me, though he was otherwise not an ill-natured 
man : perhaps I was too saucy and provoking. 

When he found I would leave him, he took care to prevent 
my getting employment in any other printing-house of the 
town by going round and speaking to every master, who ac- 
cordingly refused to give me work. I then thought of going 
to New York, as the nearest place where there was a printer ; 
and I was rather inclined to leave Boston when I reflected 
that I had already made myself a little obnoxious to the gov- 

'' According to law and custom the his time of service had come to an 

master had a right to the services of end. 

his apprentice: if Franklin had run ^Franklin notes some other errors 

away, his brother might have got him later: see pp. 64, 75, and how he 

back. When his old indentures were managed to correct them, pp. 99, 106. 
canceled, however, it appeared as if 



50 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

erning party, and, from the arbitrary proceedings of the 
Assembly in my brother's case, it was likely I might, if I 
stayed, soon bring myself into scrapes ; and farther, that my 
indiscreet disputations about religion began to make me 
pointed at with horror by good people as an infidel or atheist.^ 
I determined on the point, but my father now siding with my 
brother, I was sensible that, if I attempted to go openly, 
means would be used to prevent me. My friend Collins, 
therefore undertook to manage a little for me. He agreed 
with the captain of a Xew York sloop for my passage, under 
the notion of my being a young acquaintance of his, that had 
got [into trouble], and therefore I could not appear or come 
away publicly. So I sold some of my books to raise a little 
money, was taken on board privately, and as we had a fair 
wind, in three days I found myself in Xew York, near 300 
miles from home, a boy of but 17, without the least recom- 
mendation to, or knowledge of any person in the place, and 
with very little money in my pocket. 

My inclinations for the sea were by this time worn out, or I 
might now have gratified them. But, having a trade, and 
supposing myself a pretty good workman. I offered my service 
to the printer in the place, old Mr. William Bradford,^ who 
had been the first printer in Pennsylvania, but removed from 
thence upon the quarrel of George Keith.- He could give me 
no employment, having little to do, and help enough already; 
but says he, " My son at Philadelphia has lately lost his prin- 
cipal hand, Aquila Eose, by death; if you go thither, I be- 
lieve he may employ you." Philadelphia was a hundred miles 

^ Franklin's religious opinions were first book in Philadelphia, in 1685, 
in accord with a great phase of thirty-eight years before this. His 
thought called Deism, which ackuowl- son Andrew was now settled in Phil- 
edged a God, but not the Christian adelphia. 
Revelation. - The governor, with whom Frank- 

1 William Bradford had printed his lin had to do later. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 51 

further, I set out, however, in a boat for Amboy,^ leaving my 
chest and things to follow me round by sea. 

In crossing the bay, we met with a squall that tore our 
rotten sails to pieces, prevented our getting into the Kill, and 
drove us upon Long Island. In our way a drunken Dutch- 
man, who was a passenger too, fell overboard; when he was 
sinking, I reached through the water to his shock pate and 
drew him up, so that we got him in again. His ducking 
sobered him a little, and he went to sleep, taking first out of 
his pocket a book, which he desired I would dry for him. It 
proved to be my old favorite author, Bunyan's " Pilgrim's 
Progress,'' in Dutch, finely printed on good paper, with copper 
cuts, a dress better than I had ever seen it wear in its own 
language. I have since found that it has been translated into 
most of the languages of Europe, and suppose it has been 
more generally read than any other book, except perhaps the 
Bible.* Honest John was the first that I know of who mixed 
narration and dialogue ; ^ a method of writing very engaging 
to the reader, who in the most interesting part finds himself, 
as it were, brought into the company and present at the dis- 
course. Defoe ^ in his " Crusoe," his " Moll Flanders," 
" Religious Courtship," '^ Family Instructor," and other 
pieces, has imitated it with success ; and Eichardson has done 
the same in his ^^ Pamela," ^ etc. 

When we drew near the island, we found it was at a place 
where there could be no landing, there being a great surf on 

3 in New Jersey, opposite the down in dramatic form, merely by 

southern end of Staten Island. The the speeches and names of the 

Kill is the passage between Staten speakers. 

Island and New Jersey. ^ Defoe wrote a great many books, 

* This would seem to be the case of which, however, only ' ' Robinson 

even at the present time, if we may Crusoe ' ' is now well known, 

judge by the number of editions to ' ' ' Pamela or Virtue Rewarded ' ' 

be found in any great library. was the first novel of Samuel Rich- 

^ Franklin means conversations set ardson. 



52 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

the stony beach. So we dropped anchor, and swung round 
towards the shore. Some people came down to the water 
edge and halloed to us, as we did to them; but the wind was 
so high, and the surf so loud, that we could not hear so as to 
understand each other. There were canoes on the shore, and 
we made signs, and halloed that they should fetch us; but- 
they either did not understand us, or thought it impractica- 
ble, so they went away, and night coming on, we had no 
remedy but to wait till the wind should abate; and, in the 
meantime, the boatman and I concluded to sleep, if we could ; 
and so crowded into the scuttle, with the Dutchman, who was 
still wet, and the spray beating over the head of our boat 
leaked through to us, so that we were soon almost as wet as 
he. In this manner we lay all night, with very little rest; 
but the wind abating the next day, we made a shift to reach 
Amboy before night, having been thirty hours on the water, 
without victuals, or any drink but a bottle of filthy rum, the 
water we sailed on being salt. 

In the evening I found- myself very feverish, and went in to 
bed; but, having read somewhere that cold water drank 
plentifully was good for a fever, I followed the prescription, 
sweat plentifully most of the night, my fever left me, and in 
the morning, crossing the ferry, I proceeded on my journey 
on foot, having fifty miles to Burlington, where I was told I 
should find boats that would carry me the rest of the way to 
Philadelphia. 

It rained very hard all the day; I was thoroughly soaked, 
and by noon a good deal tired; so I stopped at a poor inn, 
where I stayed all night, beginning now to wish that I had 
never left home. I cut so miserable a figure, too, that I 
found, by the questions asked me, I was suspected to be some 
runaway servant, and in danger of being taken up on that 
suspicion. However, I proceeded the next day, and got in 



THE AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRAXKLIX 53 

the evening to an inn, within eight or ten miles of Burlington,^ 
kept by one Dr. Brown. He entered into conversation with 
me while I took some refreshment, and, finding I had read a 
little became very sociable and friendly. Our acquaintance 
continued as long as he lived. He had been, I imagine, an 
itinerant doctor, for there was no town in England, or 
country in Europe, of which he could not give a very particu- 
lar account. He had some letters,^ and was ingenious but 
much of an unbeliever, and wickedly undertook, some years 
after, to travesty the Bible in doggerel verse, as Cotton had 
done Virgil. By this means he set many of the facts in a 
very ridiculous light, and might have hurt weak minds if his 
work had been published ; but it never was. 

At his house I lay that night, and the next morning reached 
Burlington, but had the mortification to find that the regular 
boats were gone a little before my coming, and no other ex- 
pected to go before Tuesday, this being Saturday; where- 
fore I returned to an old woman in the town, of whom I had 
bought gingerbread to eat on the water, and asked her advice. 
She invited me to lodge at her house till a passage by water 
should offer; and being tired with my foot traveling, I 
accepted the invitation. She, understanding I was a printer, 
would have had me stay at that town and follow my business, 
being ignorant of the stock necessary to begin with. She 
was very hospitable, gave me a dinner of ox-cheek with great 
good-will, accepting only of a pot of ale in return; and I 
thought myself fixed till Tuesday should come. However, 
walking in the evening by the side of the river, a boat came 
by, which I found was going towards Philadelphia, with 
several people in her. They took me in, and, as there was no 
wind, we rowed all the way ; and about midnight, not having 

8 in New Jersey, on the Delaware, ^ had some acquaintance with lit- 

about fifteen miles above Philadel- erature. 
phia. 



54 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

yet seen the city, some of the company were confident we 
must have passed it, and would row no farther; the others 
knew not where we were; so we put toward the shore, got 
into a creek, landed near an old fence, with the rails of which 
we made a fire, the night being cold, in October, and there 
we remained till daylight. Then one of the company knew 
the place to be Cooper's Creek, a little above Philadelphia, 
which we saw as soon as we got out of the creek, and arrived 
there about eight or nine o'clock on the Sunday morning, and 
landed at the Market-street wharf. 

I have been the more particular in this description of my 
journey, and shall be so of my first entry into that city, that 
you may in your mind compart such unlikely beginning with 
the figure I have since made there. I was in my working 
dress, my best clothes being to come round by sea. I was 
dirty from my journey; my pockets were stuifed out with 
shirts and stockings, and I knew no soul nor where to look 
for lodging. I was fatigued with traveling, rowing, and 
want of rest ; I was very hungry ; and my whole stock of cash 
consisted of a Dutch dollar ^ and about a shilling in copper. 
The latter I gave the people of the boat for my passage, who 
at first refused it, on account of my rowing ; but I insisted on 
their taking it. A man being sometimes more generous when 
he has but a little money than when he has plenty, perhaps 
through fear of being thought to have but little. 

Then I walked up the street, gazing about till near the 
market-house I met a boy with bread. I had made many a 
meal on bread, and inquiring where he got it, I went im- 
mediately to the baker's he directed me to, in Second Street, 
and asked for biscuit, intending such as we had in Boston; 
but they, it seems, were not made in Philadelphia. Then I 

^ The word "dollar" came orig- dollar in America at this time was 
inally from the Low German form the Spanish, or piece of eight, but 
of the word "thaler." The usual there were many other silver pieces. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 55 

asked for a three-penny loaf, and was told they had none such. 
So not considering or knowing the difference of money and 
the greater cheapness, nor the names of his bread, I bade him 
give me three-penny worth of any sort. He gave me, ac- 
cordingly, three great puffy rolls. I was surprised at the 
quantity, but took it, and, having no room in my pockets, 
walked off with a roll under each arm, and eating the other. 
Thus I went up Market Street as far as Fourth Street, passing 
by the door of Mr. Eead, my future wife's father ; when she, 
standing at the door, saw me, and thought I made, as I cer- 
tainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance. Then I 
turned and went down Chestnut Street and part of Walnut 
Street, eating my roll all the way, and, coming round, found 
myself again at Market-street wharf, near the boat I came in, 
to which I went for a draught of the river water ; and, being 
filled ^ with one of my rolls, gave the other two to a woman 
and her child that came down the river in the boat with us, 
and were waiting to go farther. 

Thus refreshed, I walked again up the street, which by this 
time had many clean-dressed people in it, who were all walk- 
ing the same way. I joined them, and thereby was led into the 
great meeting-house of the Quakers ^ near the market. I sat 
down among them, and, after looking round awhile and hear- 
ing nothing said,* being very drowsy through labor and want 
of rest the preceding night, I fell fast asleep, and continued 
so till the meeting broke up, when one was kind enough to 
rouse me. This was, therefore, the first house I was in, or 
slept in, in Philadelphia. 

Walking down again toward the river, and, looking in the 
faces of people, I met a young Quaker man whose countenance 

2 i. e. having eaten all he wanted. of Friends, often called Quakers. 

3 Philadelphia had been settled in * It is the practice in the Friends' 
1682 under a patent granted to Wil- Meetings to say nothing unless the 
liam Penn, a leader of the Society Spirit shall move one. 



56 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

I liked, and, accosting him, requested he would tell me where 
a stranger could get lodging. We were then near the sign of 
the Three Mariners. " Here/' says he, " is one place that en- 
tertains strangers, but it is not a reputable house ; if thee ^ wilt 
walk with me I'll show thee a better." He brought me to the 
Crooked Billet,® in Water Street. Here I got a dinner ; and, 
while I was eating it, several sly questions were asked me, as 
it seemed to be suspected from my youth and appearance that 
I might be some runaway. 

After dinner my sleepiness returned, and being shown to a 
bed, I lay down without undressing, and slept till six in the 
evening, was called to supper, went to bed again very early, 
and slept soundly till next morning. Then I made myself as 
tidy as I could, and went to Andrew Bradford, the printer's. 
I found in the shop the old man, his father, whom I had seen 
at New York, and who, traveling on horseback, had got to 
Philadelphia before me. He introduced me to his son, who 
received me civilly, gave me a breakfast, but told me he did 
not at present want a hand, being lately supplied with one; 
but there was another printer in town, lately set up, one 
Keimer, who, perhaps, might employ me; if not, I should be 
welcome to lodge at his house, and he would give me a little 
work to do now and then till fuller business should offer. 

The old gentleman said he would go with me to the new 
printer ; and when we found him, " Neighbor," says Bradford, 
"I have brought to see you a young man of your business; 
perhaps you may want such a one." He asked me a few ques- 
tions, put a composing-stick in my hand to see how I worked, 
and then said he would employ me soon, though he had just 
then nothing for me to do; and, taking old Bradford, whom 
he had never seen before, to be one of the townspeople that 

^ This use of "thee" used to be who especially wished to avoid any- 
a marlc of simple speech, and was thing formal. 

therefore adopted by the Friends "^ Houses were known at this time 

by signs, instead of numbers. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIN FRAXKLIX 57 

had a good-will for him, entered into a conversation on his 
present undertaking and prospects; while Bradford, not dis- 
covering that he was the other printer's father, on Keimer's 
saying he expected soon to get the greatest part of the business 
into his own hands, drew him on by artful questions, and 
starting little doubts, to explain all his views, what interests 
he relied on, and in what manner he intended to proceed. I, 
who stood by and heard all, saw immediately that one of them 
was a crafty old sophister,'^ and the other a mere novice. 
Bradford left me with Keimer, who was greatly surprised 
when I told him who the old man was. 

Keimer's printing-house, I found, consisted of an old shat- 
tered press and one small, worn-out font of English, which, 
he was then using himself, composing an Elegy on Aquila 
Eose, before mentioned, an ingenious young man, of excellent 
character, much respected in the town, clerk of the Assembly, 
and a pretty poet. Keimer made verses too, but very indif- 
ferently. He could not be said to write them, for his manner 
was to compose them in the types directly out of his head. 
So there being no copy, but one pair of cases,^ and the Elegy 
likely to require all the letter, no one could help him. I en- 
deavored to put his press (which he had not yet used, and of 
which he understood nothing) into order fit to be worked 
with; and promising to come and print off his Elegy as soon 
as he should have got it ready, I returned to Bradford's, who 
gave me a little job to do for the present, and there I lodged 
and dieted. A few days after, Keimer sent for me to print 
off the Elegy. And now he had got another pair of cases, 
and a pamphlet to reprint, on which he set me to work. 

These two printers I found poorly qualified for their busi- 
ness. Bradford had not been bred to it, and was very illiter- 
ate; and Keimer, though something of a scholar, was a mere 

^ one who argues fallaciously. kept in two cases, the upper for cap* 

8 The types in a printing-office are itals, the lower, for small letters. 



58 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN" 

compositor, knowing nothing of presswork. He had been 
one of the French prophets/ and could act their enthusiastic 
agitations. At this time he did not profess any particular 
religion, but something of all on occasion ; was very ignorant 
of the world, and had, as I afterward found, a good deal of 
the knave in his composition. He did not like my lodging at 
Bradford's while I worked with him. He had a house, in- 
deed, but without furniture, so he could not lodge me ; but he 
got me a lodging at Mr. Eead's, before mentioned, who was 
the owner of his house ; and, my chest and clothes being come 
by this time, I made rather a more respectable appearance in 
the eyes of Miss Eead than I had done when she first hap- 
pened to see me eating my roll in the street. 

I began now to have some acquaintance among the young 
people of the town, that were lovers of reading, with whom I 
spent my evenings very pleasantly ; and gaining money by my 
industry and frugality, I lived very agreeably, forgetting Bos- 
ton as much as I could, and not desiring that any there should 
know where I resided, except my friend Collins, who was in 
my secret, and kept it when I wrote to him. At length an in- 
cident happened that sent me back again much sooner than I 
had intended. I had a brother-in-law, Eobert Holmes, master 
of a sloop that traded between Boston and Delaware. He be- 
ing at Newcastle, forty miles below Philadelphia, heard there 
of me, and wrote me a letter mentioning the concern of my 
friends in Boston at my abrupt departure, assuring me of their 
good-w411 to me, and that everything would be accommodated 
to my mind if I would return, to which he exhorted me very 
earnestly. I wrote an answer to his letter, thanked him for 
his advice, but stated my reasons for quitting Boston fully, 
and in such a light as to convince him I was not so wrong as 
he had apprehended. 

9 or religious enthusiasts of whom many had left France on account of 
persecution. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEJ^JAMIN FRANKLI^^ 59 

Sir William Keith^ governor of the province, was then at 
IN'ewcastle, and Captain Holmes, happening to be in company 
with him when my letter came to hand, spoke to him of me, 
and showed him the letter. The governor read it, and seemed 
surprised when he was told my age. He said I appeared a 
young man of promising parts, and therefore should be en- 
couraged; the printers at Philadelphia were wretched ones; 
and, if I would set up there, he made no doubt I should suc- 
ceed; for his part, he would procure me the public business, 
and do me every other service in his power. This my brother- 
in-law afterwards told me in Boston, but I knew as yet noth- 
ing of it ; when, one day, Keimer and I being at work together 
near the window, we saw the governor and another gentleman 
(which proved to be Colonel French, of Newcastle), finely 
dressed, come directly across the street to our house, and 
heard them at the door. 

Keimer ran down immediately, thinking it a visit to him; 
but the governor inquired for me, came up, and with a con- 
descension and politeness I had been quite unused to, made 
me many compliments, desired to be acquainted with me, 
blamed me kindly for not having made myself known to him 
when I first came to the place,^ and would have me away with 
him to the tavern, where he was going with Colonel French to 
taste, as he said, some excellent Madeira. I was not a little 
surprised, and Keimer stared like a pig poisoned. I went, 
however, with the governor and Colonel French to a tavern, 
at the corner of Third Street, and over the Madeira he pro- 
posed my setting up my business, laid before me the proba- 
bilities of success, and both he and Colonel French assured 
me I should have their interest and influence in procuring 
the public business of both governments. On my doubting 

1 It gives us an idea of the differ- governor. See p. 64 for Franklin's 

ence of conditions to think that a interview with the governor of New 

journeyman printer should have York, 
thought it natural to call upon the 



60 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRAXKLIX 

whether my father would assist me in it, Sir William said he 
would give me a letter to him, in which he would state the 
advantages, and he did not doubt of prevailing with him. 
So it was concluded I should return to Boston in the first 
vessel, with the governor's letter recommending me to my 
father. In the meantime the intention was to be kept a 
secret, and I went on working with Keimer as usual, the 
governor sending for me now and then to dine with him, a 
very great honor I thought it, and conversing with me in the 
most affable, familiar, and friendly manner imaginable. 

About the end of April, 1724, a little vessel offered for 
Boston. I took leave of Keimer as going to see my friends. 
The governor gave me an ample letter, saying many flattering 
things of me to my father, and strongly recommending the 
project of my setting up at Philadelphia as a thing that must 
make my fortune. We struck on a shoal in going down the 
bay, and sprung a leak; we had a blustering time at sea, and 
were obliged to pump almost continually, at which I took my 
turn. We arrived safe, however, at Boston in about a fort- 
night. I had been absent seven months, and my friends had 
heard nothing of me ; for my brother ^ Holmes was not yet re- 
turned, and had not written about me. My unexpected ap- 
pearance surprised the family ; all were, however, very glad to 
see me, and made me welcome, except my brother. I went to 
see him at his printing-house. I was better dressed than ever 
while in his service, having a genteel new suit from head to 
foot, a watch, and my pockets lined with near five pounds 
sterling in silver. He received me not very frankly, looked 
me all over, and turned to his work again. 

The journeymen were inquisitive where I had been, what 
sort of a country it was, and how I liked it. I praised it 
much, and the happy life I led in it, expressing strongly my 
intention of returning to it; and, one of them asking what 

2 his brother-in-law. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 61 

kind of money we had there, I produced a handful of silver, 
and spread it before them, which was a kind of raree-show ^ 
they had not been used to, paper being the money of Boston. 
Then I took an opportunity of letting them see my watch; 
and, lastly (my brother still grum and sullen), I gave them a 
piece of eight* to drink, and took my leave. This visit of 
mine offended him extremely; for, when my mother some 
time after spoke to him of a reconciliation, and of her wishes 
to see us on good terms together, and that we might live for 
the future as brothers, he said I had insulted him in such a 
manner before his people that he could never forget or forgive 
it. In this, however, he was mistaken. 

My father received the governor's letter with some apparent 
surprise, but said little of it to me for several days, when 
Capt. Holmes returning he showed it to him, asked him if he 
knew Keith, and what kind of man he was ; adding his opin- 
ion that he must be of small discretion to think of setting a 
boy up in business who wanted yet three years of being at 
man's estate. Holmes said what he could in favor of the 
project, but my father was clear in the impropriety of it, and 
at last gave a flat denial to it. Then he wrote a civil letter to 
Sir William, thanking him for the patronage. he had so kindly 
offered me, but declining to assist me as yet in setting up, I 
being, in his opinion, too young to be trusted with the man- 
agement of a business so important, and for which the prep- 
aration must be so expensive. 

My friend and companion Collins, who was a clerk in the 
post-office, pleased with the account I gave him of my new 
country, determined to go thither also; and, while I waited 
for my father's determination, he set out before me by land 
to Rhode Island, leaving his books, which were a pretty col- 
lection of mathematics and natural philosophy, to come with 
mine and me to New York, where he proposed to wait for me. 

^peep-show. < See pp. 64, 65. 



62 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

My father, though he did not approve Sir William's propo- 
sition, was yet pleased that I had been able to obtain so 
advantageous a character from a person of such note where I 
had resided, and that I had been so industrious and careful 
as to equip myself so handsomely in so short a time; there- 
fore, seeing no prospect of an accommodation between my 
brother and me, he gave his consent to my returning again to 
Philadelphia, advised me to behave respectfully to the people 
there, endeavor to obtain the general esteem, and avoid 
lampooning and libeling, to which he thought I had too much 
inclination; telling me, that by steady industry and a pru- 
dent parsimony I might save enough by the time I was one- 
and-twenty to set me up ; and that, if I came near the matter, 
he would help me out with the rest. This was all I could ob- 
tain, except some small gifts 'as tokens of his and my mother's 
love, when I embarked again for New York, now with their 
approbation and their blessing. 

The sloop putting in at Newport, Ehode Island, I visited 
my brother John, who had been married and settled there 
some years. He received me very affectionately, for he 
always loved me. A friend of his, one Vernon, having some 
money due to him in Pennsylvania, about thirty-five pounds 
currency, desired I would receive it for him, and keep it till I 
had his directions what to remit it in. Accordingly, he gave 
me an order. This afterwards occasioned me a good deal of 
uneasiness.^ 

At Newport we took in a number of passengers for New 
York, among which were two young women, companions, 
and a grave, sensible, matron-like Quaker woman, with her 
attendants. I had shown an obliging readiness to do her 
some little services, which impressed her I suppose with a 
degree of good- will toward me; therefore, when she saw a 
daily growing familiarity between me and the two young 

Spp. 64, 65. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN TRANKLIN 63 

women, which they appeared to encourage, she took me aside, 
and said, " Young man, I am concerned for thee, as thou has 
no fri^d with thee, and seems not to know much of the 
world, or of the snares youth is exposed to ; depend upon it, 
those are very bad women; I can see it in all their actions; 
and if thee art not upon thy guard, they will draw thee into 
some danger ; they are strangers to thee, and I advise thee, in 
a friendly concern for thy welfare, to have no acquaintance 
witli them/^ As I seemed at first not to think so ill of them 
as she did, she mentioned some things she had observed and 
heard that had escaped my notice, but now convinced me she 
was right. I thanked her for her kind advice, and promised 
to follow it. When we arrived at New York, they told me 
where they lived, and invited me to come and see them; but 
I avoided it, and it was well I did ; for the next day the cap- 
tain missed a silver spoon and some other things, that had 
been taken out of his cabin, and, ... he got a warrant to 
search their lodgings, found the stolen goods, and had the 
thieves punished. So, though we had escaped a sunken rock, 
which we scraped upon in the passage, I thought this escape 
of rather more importance to me. 

At New York I found my friend Collins, who had arrived 
there some time before me. We had been intimate from chil- 
dren, and had read the same books together; but he had the 
advantage of more time for reading and studying, and a won- 
derful genius for mathematical learning, in which he far out- 
stripped me. Wliile I lived in Boston, most of my hours of 
leisure for conversation were spent with him, and he contin- 
ued a sober as well as an industrious lad ; was much respected 
for his learning by several of the clergy and other gentlemen, 
and seemed to promise making a good figure in life. But, 
during my absence, he had acquired a habit of sotting with 
brandy; and I found by his own account, and what I heard 
from others, that he had been drunk every day since his 



64 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

arrival at New York, and behaved very oddly. He had 
gamed, too, and lost his money, so that I was obliged to dis- 
charge his lodgings, and defray his expenses to and a^ Phila- 
delphia, which proved extremely inconvenient to me. 

The then governor of New York, Burnet (son of Bishop 
Burnet),^ hearing from the captain that a young man, one of 
his passengers, had a great many books, desired he would 
bring me to see him. I waited upon him accordingly, and 
should have taken Collins with me but that he was not sober. 
The governor treated me with great civility, showed me his 
library, which was a very large one, and we had a good deal 
of conversation about books and authors. This was the sec- 
ond governor who had done me the honor to take notice of 
me; which, to a poor boy like me, was very pleasing. 

We proceeded to Philadelphia. I received on the way Ver- 
non's money, without which we could hardly have finished 
our journey. Collins wished to be employed in some count- 
ing-house ; but, whether they discovered his dramming ^ by his 
breath, or by his behavior, though he had some recommenda- 
tions, he met with no success in any application, and contin- 
ued lodging and boarding at the same house with me, and at 
my expense. Knowing I had that money of Vernon's, he was 
continually borrowing of me, still promising repayment as 
soon as he should be in business. At length he had got so 
much of it that I was distressed to think what I should do in 
case of being called on to remit it. 

His drinking continued, about which we sometimes quar- 
reled; for, when a little intoxicated, he was very fractious. 
Once, in a boat on the Delaware with some other young men, 
he refused to row in his turn. " I will be rowed home," says 
he. " We will not row you," says I. " You must, or stay all 

" Governor Burnet is otherwise ^ A " dram ' ' was a common word 

known as a man of scholarly tastes in the 18th century for a drink of 
and a fondness for reading. spirits. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 65 

night on the water/' says he, " just as you please/' The 
others said, " Let us row ; what signifies it ? " But, my mind 
oeing soured with his other conduct, I continued to refuse. 
So he swore he would make me row, or throw me overboard; 
and coming along, stepping on the thwarts, toward me, when 
he came up and struck at me, I clapped my hand under his 
crotch, and, rising, pitched him headforemost into the river. 
I knew he was a good swimmer, and so was under little con- 
cern about him; but before he could get round to lay hold of 
the boat, we had w^ith a few strokes pulled her out of his 
reach; and ever when he drew near the boat, we asked if he 
would row, striking a few strokes to slide her away from him. 
He was ready to die with vexation, and obstinately would not 
promise to row. However, seeing him at last beginning to 
tire, we lifted him in and brought him home dripping wet in 
the evening. We hardly exchanged a civil word afterwards, 
and a West India captain, who had a commission to procure 
a tutor for the sons of a gentleman at Barbardoes, happening 
to meet with him, agreed to carry him thither. He left me 
then, promising to remit me the first money he should receive 
in order to discharge the debt ; but I never heard of him after. 
The breaking into this money of Vernon's was one of the 
first great errata of my life; and this affair showed that my 
father was not much out in his judgment when he supposed 
me too young to manage business of importance. But Sir 
William, on reading his letter, said he was too prudent. 
There was great difference in persons ; and discretion did not 
always accompany years, nor was youth always without it. 
" And since he will not set you up," says he, " I will do it my- 
self. Give me an inventory of the things necessary to be had 
from England, and I will send for them. You shall repay me 
when 3^ou are able ; I am resolved to have a good printer here, 
and I am sure you must succeed." This was spoken with such 
an appearance of cordiality, that I had not the least doubt of 



66 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

his meaning what he said. I had hitherto kept the proposi- 
tion of my setting up a secret in Philadelphia, and I still kept 
it. Had it been known that I depended on the governor, 
probably some friend, that knew him better, would have ad- 
vised me not to rely on him, as I afterwards heard it as his 
known character to be liberal of promises which he never 
meant to keep. Yet, unsolicited as he was by me, how could 
I think his generous offers insincere? I believed him one of 
the best men in the world. 

I presented him an inventory of a little printing-house, 
amounting by my computation to about one hundred pounds 
sterling. He liked it, but asked me if my being on the spot in 
England to choose the types, and see that everything Avas 
good of the kind, might not be of some advantage. " Then," 
says he, " when there, you may make acquaintances, and es- 
tablish correspondences in the bookselling and stationary way." 
I agreed that this might be advantageous. "Then," says he, 
" get yourself ready to go wdth Annis; " which was the annual 
ship, and the only one at that time usually passing between 
London and Philadelphia. But it would be some months be- 
fore Annis sailed, so I continued working wath Keimer, fret- 
ting about the money Collins had got from me, and in daily 
apprehensions of being called upon by Vernon, which, how- 
ever, did not happen for some years after. 

I believe I have omitted mentioning that, in my first voy- 
age from Boston, being becalmed off Block Island, our people 
set about catching cod, and hauled up a great many. Hitherto 
I had stuck to my resolution of not eating animal food, and 
on this occasion I considered, with my master Tryon, the tak- 
ing every fish as a kind of unprovoked murder, since none of 
them had, or ever could do us any injury that might justify 
the slaughter. All this seemed very reasonable. But I had 
formerly been a great lover of fish, and, when this came hot 
out of the frying-pan, it smelt admirably well. I balanced 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 67 

some time between principle and inclination, till I recollected 
that, when the fish were opened, I saw smaller fish taken out 
of their stomachs ; then thought I, " If you eat one another, I 
don't see why we mayn't eat you." So I dined upon cod very 
heartily, and continued to eat with other people, returning 
only now and then occasionally to a vegetable diet. So con- 
venient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it en- 
ables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a 
mind to do. 

Keimer and I lived on a pretty good familiar footing, and 
agreed tolerably well, for he suspected nothing of my setting 
up. He retained a great deal of his old enthusiasms and 
loved argumentation. We therefore had many disputations. 
I used to work him so with my Socratic method,^ and had tre- 
panned ^ him so often by questions apparently so distant from 
any point we had in hand, and yet by degrees led to the 
point, and brought him into difficulties and contradictions, 
that at last he grew ridiculously cautious, and would hardly 
answer me the most common question, without asking first: 
" \Yhat do you intend to infer from that?'' However, it 
gave him so high an opinion of my abilities in the confuting 
way, that he seriously proposed my being his colleague in a 
project he had of setting up a new sect. He was to preach the 
doctrines, and I was to confound all opponents. When he 
came to explain with me upon the doctrines, I found several 
conundrums which I objected to, unless I might have my way 
a little too, and introduce some of mine. 

Keimer wore his beard at full length, because somewhere in 
the Mosaic law it is said, '*" Thou shalt not mar the corners of 
thy heard/' He likewise kept the Seventh day, Sabbath; and 
these two points were essentials with him. I disliked both; 
but agreed to admit them upon condition of his adopting the 
doctrine of using no animal food. " I doubt," said he, " my 

^ See p. 45. ® deceived and taken in. 



68 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN ERAXKLIX 

constitution will not bear that." I assured him it would, and 
that he would be better for it. He was usually a great glut- 
ton, and I promised myself some diversion in half-starving 
him. He agreed to try the practice, if I would keep him com- 
pany. I did so, and we held it for three months. We had our 
victuals dressed, and brought to us regularly by a woman in 
the neighborhood, who had from me a list of forty dishes, to 
be prepared for us at different times, in all which there was 
neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, and the whim suited me the bet- 
ter at this time from the cheapness of it, not costing us above 
eighteen pence sterling each per week. I have since kept sev- 
eral Lents most strictly, leaving the common diet for that, 
and that for the common, abruptly, without the least incon- 
venience, so that I think there is little in the advice of making 
those changes by easy gradations. I went on pleasantly, but 
poor Keimer suffered grievously, tired of the project, longed 
for the flesh-pots of Egypt, and ordered a roast pig. He in- 
vited me and two women friends to dine with him; but, it 
being brought too soon upon the table, he could not resist the 
temptation, and ate the whole before we came. 

I had made some courtship during this time to Miss Eead. 
I had a great respect and affection for her, and had some 
reason to believe she had the same for me; but, as I was 
about to take a long voyage, and we were both very young, 
only a little above eighteen, it was thought most prudent by 
her mother to prevent our going too far at present, as a mar- 
riage, if it was to take place, would be more convenient after 
my return, when I should be, as I expected, set up in my busi- 
ness. Perhaps, too, she thought my expectations not so well 
founded as I imagined them to be. 

My chief acquaintances at this time were Charles Osborne, 
Joseph Watson, and James Ralph, all lovers of reading. The 
two first were clerks to an eminent scrivener or conveyancer ^'^' 

^<^ one who manages transfers in real estate. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 69 

in the town, Charles Brogden; the other was clerk to a mer- 
chant. Watson was a pious, sensible young man, of great 
integrity ; and the others rather more lax in their principles of 
religion, particularly Ealph, who, as well as Collins, had been 
unsettled by me, for which they both made me suffer.^ Os- 
borne was sensible, candid, frank; sincere and affectionate 
to his friends ; but, in literary matters, too fond of criticising. 
Ealph was ingenious, genteel in his manners, and extremely 
eloquent; I think I never knew a prettier talker. Both of 
them great admirers of poetry, and began to try their hands 
in little pieces. Many pleasant walks we four had together on 
Sundays into the woods, near the Schuylkill, where we read to 
one another and conferred on what we read. 

Ealph was inclined to pursue the study of poetry, not doubt- 
ing but he might become eminent in it, and make his fortune 
by it, alleging that the best poets must, when they first began 
to write, make as many faults as he did. Osborne dissuaded 
him, assured him he had no genius for poetry, and advised 
him to think of nothing beyond the business he was bred to ; 
that, in the mercantile way, though he had no stock, he might, 
by his diligence and punctuality, recommend himself to em- 
ployment as a factor,^ and in time acquire wherewith to trade 
on his own account. I approved the amusing one's self with 
poetry now and then, so far as to improve one's language, but 
no farther. 

On this it was proposed that we should each of us, at our 
next meeting, produce a piece of our own composing, in order 
to improve by our mutual observations, criticisms, and cor- 
rections. As language and expression were what we had in 
view, we excluded all considerations of invention by agreeing 
that the task should be a version of the eighteenth Psalm, 

1 Collins by losing his moral sense, as we have seen; Ralph as we shall 
see later. 

2 or commission merchant. 



70 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIX FKAMvLlN 

which describes the descent of Deity. When the time of our 
meeting grew nigh, Ralph called on me first, and let me know 
his piece was ready. I told him I had been busy, and, having 
little inclination, had done nothing. He then showed me his 
piece for my opinion, and I much approved it, as it appeared to 
me to have great merit. " Now," says he, " Osborne never will 
allow the least merit in anything of mine, but makes a thou- 
sand criticisms out of mere envy. He is not so jealous of 
you ; I wish, therefore, you would take this piece, and produce 
it as yours ; I will pretend not to have had time, and so pro- 
duce nothing. We shall then see what he will say to it." It 
was agreed, and I immediately transcribed it, that it might 
appear in my own hand. 

We met ; Watson's performance was read ; there were some 
beauties in it, but many defects. Osborne's was read ; it was 
much better; Ralph did it justice; remarked some faults, but 
applauded the beauties. He himself had nothing to produce. 
I was backward; seemed desirous of being excused; had not 
had sufficient time to correct, etc.; but no excuse could be 
admitted; produce I must. It was read and repeated; Wat- 
son and Osborne gave up the contest, and joined in applaud- 
ing it. Ralph only made some criticisms, and proposed some 
amendments; but I defended my text. Osborne was against 
Ralph, and told him he was no better a critic than poet, so he 
dropped the argument. As they two went home together, Os- 
borne expressed himself still more strongly in favor of what he 
thought my production; having restrained himself before, as 
he said, lest I should think it flattery. " But who would have 
imagined," said he, " that Franklin had been capable of such 
a performance ; such painting, such force, such fire ! He has 
even improved the original. In his common conversation he 
seems to have no choice of words; he hesitates and blunders; 
and yet, good God ! how he writes ! " AVhen we next met. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 71 

Ealph discovered the trick we had played him, and Osborne 
was a little laughed at. 

This transaction fixed Ealph in his resolution of becoming a 
poet. I did all I could to dissuade him from it, but he con- 
tinued scribbling verses till Pope cured him.^ He became, 
however, a pretty good prose writer. More of him hereafter. 
But, as I may not have occasion a'gain to mention the other 
two, I shall just remark here, that Watson died in my arms 
a few years after, much lamented, being the best of our set. 
Osborne went to the West Indies, where he became an 
eminent lawyer and made money, but died young. He and I 
had made a serious agreement, that the one who happened 
first to die should, if possible, make a friendly visit to the 
other, and acquaint him how he found things in that separate 
state. But he never fulfilled his promise. 

The governor, seeming to like my company, had me fre- 
quently to his house, and his setting me up was always 
mentioned as a fixed thing. I was to take with me letters 
recommendatory to a number of his friends, besides the letter 
of credit to furnish me with the necessary money for pur- 
chasing the press and types, paper, etc. For these letters I 
was appointed to call at different times, when they were to be 
ready; but a future time was still named. Thus he went on 
till the ship, whose departure too had been several times post- 
poned, was on the point of sailing. Then, when I called to 
take my leave and receive the letters, his secretary. Dr. Bard, 
came out to me and said the governor was extremely busy in 
writing, but would be down at Newcastle before the ship, and 
there the letters would be delivered to me. 

Ealph, though married, and having one child, had deter- 
mined to accompany me on this voyage. It was thought he 
intended to establish a correspondence, and obtain goods to 

^ By mentioning him in the " Dunciad, " i. 215, iii. 165. 



72 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

sell on commission; but I found afterwards, that, through 
some discontent with his wife's relations, he proposed to leave 
her on their hands, and never return again. Having taken 
leave of my friends, and interchanged some promises with 
Miss Eead, I left Philadelphia in the ship, which anchored at 
NewTastle. The governor was there ; but when I went to his 
lodging, the secretary came to me from him with the civilest 
message in the world, that he could not then see me, being 
engaged in business of the utmost importance, but should 
send the letters to me on board, wished me heartily a good 
voyage and a speedy return, etc. I returned on board a 
little puzzled, but still not doubting. 

Mr. Andrew Hamilton, a famous lawyer of Philadelphia, 
had taken passage in the same ship for himself and son, and 
with Mr. Denliam, a Quaker merchant, and Messrs. Onion 
and Eussel, masters of an iron-work in Maryland, had en- 
gaged the great cabin; so that Ealph and I were forced to 
take up with a berth in the steerage, and none on board 
knowing us, were considered as ordinary persons. But Mr. 
Hamilton and his son (it was James, since governor) returned 
from Newcastle to Philadelphia, the father being recalled by 
a great fee to plead for a seized ship; and, just before we 
sailed, Colonel French coming on board, and showing me 
great respect, I was more taken notice of, and, with my 
friend Ealph, invited by the other gentlemen to come into the 
cabin, there being now room. Accordingly, we removed 
thither. 

Understanding that Colonel French had brought on board 
the governor's despatches, I asked the captain for those 
letters that were to be under my care. He said all were 
put into the bag together and he could not then come at 
them; but, before we landed in England, I should have an 
opportunity of picking them out; so I was satisfied for the 
present, and we proceeded on our voyage. We had a sociable 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 73 

company in the cabin, and lived uncommonly well, having the 
addition of all Mr. Hamilton's stores, who had laid in plenti- 
fully. In this passage Mr. Denham contracted a friendship 
for me that continued during his life. The voyage was other- 
wise not a pleasant one, as we had a great deal of bad 
weather. 

When we came into the Channel, the captain kept his word 
with me, and gave me an opportunity of examining the bag 
for the governor's letters. I found none upon which my 
name was put as under my care. I picked out six or seven, 
that, by the handwriting, I thought might be the promised 
letters, especially as one of them was directed to Basket, the 
king's printer, and another to some stationer. We arrived in 
London the 24th of December, 1724. I waited upon the 
stationer, who came first in my way, delivering the letter as 
from Governor Keith. "I don't know such a person," says 
he ; but, opening the letter, " ! this is from Eiddlesden. I 
have lately found him to be a complete rascal, and I will have 
nothing to do with him, nor receive any letters from him." 
So, putting the letter into my hand, he turned on his heel and 
left me to serve some customer. I was surprised to find these 
were not the governor's letters; and, after recollecting and 
comparing circumstances, I began to doubt his sincerity. I 
found my friend Denham, and opened the whole affair to 
him. He let me into Keith's character; told me there was 
not the least probability that he had written any letters for 
me; that no one who knew him had the smallest dependence 
on him; and he laughed at the notion of the governor's 
giving me a letter of credit, having, as he said, no credit to 
give. On my expressing some concern about what I should 
do, he advised me to endeavor getting some em^ployment in 
the way of my business. " Among the printers here," said 
he, "you will improve yourself, and when you return to 
America, you will set up to greater advantage." 



74 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN ERAXKLIN 

We both of "US happened to know, as well as the stationer, 
that Eiddlesden, the attorney, was a very * knave. He had 
half ruined Miss Bead's father by persuading him to be bound 
for him. By this letter it appeared there was a secret scheme 
on foot to the prejudice of Hamilton (supposed to be then 
coming over with us) ; and that Keith was concerned in it 
with Eiddlesden. Denliam, who was a friend of Hamilton's, 
thought he ought to be acquainted with it; so, when he 
arrived in England, which was soon after, partly from resent- 
ment and ill-will to Keith and Eiddlesden, and partly from 
good-will to him, I waited on him, and gave him the letter. 
He thanked me cordially, the information being of importance 
to him ; gind from that time he became my friend, greatly to 
my advantage afterwards on many occasions. 

But what shall we think of a governor's playing such pitiful 
tricks, and imposing so grossly on a poor ignorant boy! It 
was a habit he had acquired. He wished to please everybody, 
and, having little to give, he gave expectations. He was 
otherwise an ingenious, sensible man, a pretty good writer, 
and a good governor for the people, though not for his con- 
stituents, the proprietaries,^ whose instructions he sometimes 
disregarded. Several of our best laws were of his planning 
and passed during his administration. 

Ealph and I were inseparable companions. We took lodg- 
ings together in Little Britain ^ at three shillings and sixpence 
a week — as much as we could then afford. He found some 
relations, but they were poor, and unable to assist him. He 
now let me know his intentions of remaining in London, and 
that he never meant to return to Philadelphia. He had 
brought no money with him, the whole he could muster 

* real. « A district in the center of the 
^ The sons of William Penn, who city of London, which will be re- 
owned large estates in the colony membered by readers of Irving's 
and possessed certain rights. "Sketch Book." 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRAXKLIX 75 

having been expended in paying his passage. I had fifteen 
pistoles ; ^ so he borrowed occasionally of me to subsist while 
he was looking out for business. He first endeavored to get 
into the playhouse, believing himself qualified for an actor; 
but Wilkes,^ to whom he applied advised him candidly not to 
think of that employment, as it was impossible he should 
succeed in it. Then he proposed to Eoberts, a publisher in 
Paternoster Row, to write for him a weekly paper like the 
Spectator, on certain conditions, which Eoberts did not ap- 
prove. Then he endeavored to get employment as a hackney 
writer, to copy for the stationers and lawyers about the 
Temple,® but could find no vacancy. 

I immediately got into work at Palmer's, then a famous 
printing-house in Bartholomew Close, and here I continued 
near a year. I was pretty diligent, but spent with Ealph a 
good deal of my earnings in going to plays and other places 
of amusement. We had together consumed all my pistoles, 
and now just rubbed on from hand to mouth. He seemed 
quite to forget his wife and child, and I, by degrees, my en- 
gagements with Miss Eead, to whom I never wrote more than 
one letter, and that was to let her know I was not likely soon 
to return. This was another of the great errata of my life, 
which I should wish to correct if I were to live it over again. 
In fact, by our expenses, I was constantly kept unable to pay 
my passage. 

At Palmer's I was employed in composing for the second 
edition of Wollaston's " Eeligion of Nature." ^ Some of his 
reasoning not appearing to me well founded, I wrote a little 
metaphysical piece in which I made remarks on them. It 
was entitled " Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure 

"^ A Spanish coin worth about four stitution in England for lawyers and 

dollars. the study of law. 

*A comedian of the day. ^William Wollaston, 1659-1724, a 

^ The Temple was the central in- writer on ethics and philosophy. 



76 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

and Pain.'^ I inscribed it to my friend Ealph; I printed a 
small number. It occasioned my being more considered by 
Mr. Palmer as a young man of some ingenuity, though he 
seriously expostulated with me upon the principles of my 
pamphlet, which to him appeared abominable. My printing 
this pamphlet was another erratum. While I lodged in Little 
Britain I made an acquaintance with one Wilcox, a bookseller, 
whose shop was at the next door. He had an immense collec- 
tion of second-hand books. Circulating libraries were not 
then in use ; but we agreed that, on certain reasonable terms, 
which I have now forgotten, I might take, read and return 
any of his books. This I esteemed a great advantage, and I 
made as much use of it as I could. 

My pamphlet by some means falling into the hands of one 
Lyons, a surgeon, author of a book entitled " The Infallibility 
of Human Judgment,'^ it occasioned an acquaintance between 
us. He took great notice of me, called on me often to con- 
verse on those subjects, carried me to the Horns, a pale-ale 

house in Lane, Cheapside, and introduced me to Dr. 

Mandeville,^ author of the "Fable of the Bees,^' who had a 
club there, of which he was the soul, being a most facetious, 
entertaining companion. Lyons, too, introduced me to Dr. 
Pemberton, at Batson's Coffee-house, who promised to give 
me an opportunity, some time or other, of seeing Sir Isaac 
Newton,^ of which I was extremely desirous; but this never 
happened. 

I had brought over a few curiosities, among which the 
principal was a purse made of the asbestos, which purifies by 
fire. Sir Hans Sloane * heard of it, came to see me, and in- 

2Bumard Mandeville, 1670-1733. * Sir Hans Sloane, 1660-1753, a 

"The Fable of the Bees," was the famous physician and naturalist, 

name he gave to his Inquiry into the His collection of books and curiosi- 

Origin of Moral Virtue. ties, which he left to the nation, 

3 Sir Isaac Newton, 1642-1727, the formed the foundation of the British 

great student of physics and mathe- Museum, 
matics. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OT BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 77 

vited me to his house in Bloomsbury Square, where he showed 
me all his curiosities, and persuaded me to let him add that 
to the number, for which he paid me handsomely. 

In our house there lodged a young woman, a milliner, who, 
I think, had a shop in the Cloisters. She had been genteelly 
bred, was sensible and lively, and of most pleasing conversa- 
tion. Ealph read plays to her in the evenings, they grew 
intimate, she took another lodging, and he followed her. 
They lived together some time; but, he being still out of 
business, and her income not sufficient to maintain them with 
her child, he took a resolution of going from London, to try 
for a country school, which he thought himself well qualified 
to undertake, as he wrote an excellent hand, and was a master 
of arithmetic and accounts. This, however, he deemed a 
business below him, and confident of future better fortune, 
when he should be unwilling to have it known that he once 
was so meanly employed, he changed his name, and did me 
the honor to assume mine ; for I soon after had a letter from 
him, acquainting me that he was settled in a small village 
(in Berkshire, I think it was, where he taught reading and 
writing to ten or a dozen boys, at sixpence each per week), 

recommending Mrs. T to my care, and desiring me to 

write to him, directing for Mr. Franklin, schoolmaster, at 
such a place. 

He continued to write frequently, sending me large speci- 
mens of an epic poem which he was then composing, and 
desiring my remarks and corrections. These I gave him from 
time to time, but endeavored rather to discourage his pro- 
ceeding. One of Young's ^ Satires was then just published. 
I copied and sent him a great part of it, which set in a strong- 
light the folly of pursuing the Muses with any hope of ad- 
vancement by them. All was in vain; sheets of the poem 

''Edward Young, 1681-1765, is best known as the author of "Night 
Thoughts." 



78 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIN FRAXKLIN 

continued to come bv every post. In the meantime [another 
matter which gave him offense] made a breach between iis; 
and, when he returned again to London, he let me know he 
thought I had canceled all the obligations he had been under 
to me. So I found I was never to expect his repaying me 
what I lent to him, or advanced for him. This, however, was 
not then of much consequence, as he was totally unable; and 
in tlie loss of his friendship I found myself relieved from a 
burthen. I now began to think of getting a little money 
beforehand, and, expecting better work, I left Palmer's to 
work at Watt's near Lincoln's Inn Fields, a still greater print- 
ing-house. Here I continued all the rest of my stay in 
London. 

At my first admission into this printing-house I took to 
working at press, imagining I felt a want of the bodily exer- 
cise I had been used to in America, where presswork is mixed 
with composing. I drank only water; the other workmen, 
near fifty in number, were great g-uzzlers of beer. On occa- 
sion, I carried up and down stairs a large form of types in 
€ach hand, when others carried but one in both hands. They 
Avondered to see, from this and several instances, that the 
Water-Ainerican, as they called me, was stronger than them- 
selves, who drank strong beer ! AYe had an alehouse boy who 
attended always in the house to supply the workmen. My 
companion at the press drank every day a pint before break- 
fast, a pint at breakfast with his bread and cheese, a pint be- 
tween breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner, a pint in the 
afternoon about six o'clock, and another when he had done 
his day's work. I thought it a detestable custom ; but it was 
necessary, he supposed, to drink strong beer that he might be 
strong to labor. I endeavored to convince him that the bodily 
strength afforded by beer could only be in proportion to the 
grain or flour of the barley dissolved in the water of which it 
was made; that there was more flour in a pennyworth of 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 79 

bread; and therefore, if he would eat that with a pint of 
water, it would give him more strength than a quart of beer. 
He drank on, however, and had four or five shillings to pay 
out of his wages every Saturday night for that muddling 
liquor; an expense I was free from. And thus these poor 
devils keep themselves always under. 

Watts, after some weeks, desiring to have me in the com- 
posing-room, I left the pressmen; a new hien venu or sum 
for drink, being five shillings, was demanded of me by the 
compositors. I thought it an imposition, as I had paid below ; 
the master thought so too, and forbade my paying it. I stood 
out two or three weeks, was accordingly considered as an ex- 
communicate,® and had so many little pieces of private mis- 
chief done me, by mixing my sorts, transposing my pages, 
breaking my matter, etc., etc., if I were ever so little out of 
the room, and all ascribed to the chapel ghost, which they 
said ever haunted those not regularly admitted, that, notwith- 
standing the master's protection, I found myself obliged to 
comply and pay the money, convinced of the folly of being on 
ill terms with those one is to live with continually. 

I was now on a fair footing with them, and soon acquired 
considerable influence. I proposed some reasonable altera- 
tions in their chapel ^ laws, and carried them against all 
opposition. From my example, a great part of them left their 
muddling breakfast of beer, and bread, and cheese, finding 
they could with me be supplied from a neighboring house with 
a larger porringer of hot water-gruel, sprinkled with pepper, 
crumbed with bread, and a bit of butter in it, for the price of 
a pint of beer, viz., three half-pence. This was a more com- 
fortable as well as cheaper breakfast, and kept their heads 
clearer. Those who continued sotting with beer all day, were 
often, by not paying, out of credit at the alehouse, and used 

® No one would have anything to "A printing-house in England used 

do with him, except to bother him. to be so called. 



80 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

to make interest with me to get beer; their lig-ht, as they 
phrased it, being out. I watched the pay-table on Saturday 
night, and collected what I stood engaged for them, having 
to pay sometimes near thirty shillings a week on their ac- 
counts. This, and my being esteemed a pretty good riggite,^ 
that is, a jocular verbal satirist, supported my consequence 
in the society. My constant attendance (I never making a 
St. Monday)^ recommended me to the master; and my un- 
common quickness at composing occasioned my being put 
upon all work of dispatch, which was generally better paid. 
So I went on now very agreeably. 

My lodging in Little Britain being too remote, I found 
another in Duke Street, opposite to the Eomish Chapel. It 
was two pair of stairs backwards, at an Italian warehouse. 
A widow lady kept the house; she had a daughter, and a 
maid servant, and a journeyman who attended the warehouse, 
but lodged abroad. After sending to inquire my character at 
the house where I last lodged, she agreed to take me in at the 
same rate, 3s. 6d. per week; cheaper, as she said, from the 
protection she expected in having a man lodge in the house. 
She was a widow, an elderly woman ; had been bred a Protes- 
tant, being a clergyman^s daughter, but was converted to the 
Catholic religion by her husband, whose memory she much 
revered; had lived much among people of distinction, and 
knew a thousand anecdotes of them as far back as the time of 
Charles the Second. She was lame in her knees with the gout, 
and, therefore, seldom stirred out of her room, so sometimes 
wanted company ; and hers was so highly amusing to me, that 
I was sure to spend an evening with her whenever she desired 
it. Our supper was only half an anchovy each, on a very 
little strip of bread and butter, and half a pint of ale between 
us; but the entertainment was in her conversation. My 

s A " rig " was a frolic or trick. 

^ A holiday observed by those who drank too much on Sunday. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 81 

always keeping good hours, and giving little trouble in the 
family, made her unwilling to part with me ; so that, when I 
talked of a lodging I had heard of, nearer my business, for 
two shillings a week, which, intent as I now was on saving 
mxoney, made some difference, she bid me not think of it, for 
she would abate me two shillings a week for the future ; so I 
remained with her at one shilling and sixpence as long as I 
stayed in London. 

In a garret of her house there lived a maiden lady of seventy 
in the most retired manner, of whom my landlady gave me 
this account: that she was a Eoman Catholic, had been sent 
abroad when young, and lodged in a nunnery with an intent 
of becoming a nun; but, the country not agreeing with her, 
she returned to England, where, there being no nunnery, she 
had vowed to lead the life of a nun, as near as might be done 
in those circumstances. Accordingly, she had given all her 
estate to charitable uses, reserving only twelve pounds a year 
to live on, and out of this sum she still gave a great deal in 
charity, living herself on water-gruel only, and using no fire 
but to boil it. She had lived many years in that garret, being 
permitted to remain there gratis by successive Catholic tenants 
of the house below, as they deemed it a blessing to have her 
there. A priest visited her to confess her every day. " I 
have asked her," says my landlady, " how she, as she lived, 
could possibly find so much employment for a confessor." 
" Oh," said she, " it is impossible to avoid vain thoughts/' I 
was permitted once to visit her. She was cheerful and polite, 
and conversed pleasantly. The room was clean, but had no 
other furniture than a mattress, a table with a crucifix and 
book, a stool which she gave me to sit on, and a picture 
over the chimney of Saint Veronica displaying her hand- 
kerchief, with the miraculous figure of Christ's bleeding 
face on it, which she explained to me with great seriousness. 
She looked pale, but was never sick ; and I give it as another 



82 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

instance on how small an income life and health may be 
supported. 

At Watt's printing-house I contracted an acquaintance with 
an ingenious 3^oung man, one W3^gate, who, having wealthy 
relations, had been better educated than most printers; was 
a tolerable Latinist, spoke French, and loved reading. I 
taught him and a friend of his to swim at twice going into the 
river, and they soon became good swimmers. They intro- 
duced me to some gentlemen from the country, who went to 
Chelsea by water to see the College ^ and Don Saltero's ^ curi- 
osities. In our return, at the request of the company, whose 
curiosity Wygate had excited, I stripped and leaped into the 
river, and swam from near Chelsea to Blackfriar's,^ perform- 
ing on the way many feats of activity, both upon and under 
the water, that surprised and pleased those to whom they 
were novelties. 

I had from a child been ever delighted with this exercise, 
had studied and practiced all Thevenot's motions and posi- 
tions, added some of my own, aiming at the graceful and easy 
as well as the useful. All these I took this occasion of ex- 
hibiting to the company, and was much flattered by their 
admiration; and Wygate, who was desirous of becoming a 
master, grew more and more attached to me on that account, 
as well as from the similarity of our studies. He at length 
proposed to me traveling all over Europe together, support- 
ing ourselves everywhere by working at our business. I was 
once inclined to it ; but, mentioning it to my good friend, Mr. 
Denham, with whom I often spent an hour when I had leisure, 
he dissuaded me from it, advising me to think only of return- 
ing to Pennsylvania, which he was now about to do. 

1 The Royal Hospital founded by coffee-house, was formed of curiosi- 
Charles II. ties from Sir Hans Sloane's collec- 

2 Don Saltero's Museum, which tion. 

made the attraction of a popular ^ -phe distance is about three miles. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN EKANKLIN 83 

I must record one trait of this good man's character. He 
had formerly been in business at Bristol, but failed in debt to 
a number of people, compounded and went to America. 
There, by a close application to business as a merchant, he 
acquired a plentiful fortune in a few years. Eeturning to 
England in the ship with me, he invited his old creditors to 
an entertainment, at which he thanked them for the easy 
composition they had favored him with, and, when they ex- 
pected nothing but the treat, every man at first remove 
found under his plate an order on a banker for the full 
amount of the unpaid remainder, with interest. 

He now told me he was about to return to Philadelphia, 
and should carry over a great quantity of goods, in order to 
open a store there. He proposed to take me over as his clerk, 
to keep his books, in which he would instruct me, copy his let- 
ters, and attend the store. He added, that, as soon as I 
should be acquainted with mercantile business, he would pro- 
mote me by sending me with a cargo of flour and bread, etc., 
to the West Indies, and procure me commissions from others 
which would be profitable; and, if I managed well, would 
establish me handsomely. The thing pleased me; for I was 
grown tired of London, remembered with pleasure the happy 
months I had spent in Pennsylvania, and wished again to see 
it; therefore I immediately agreed on the terms of fifty 
pounds a year, Pennsylvania money; less, indeed, than my 
present gettings, as a compositor, but affording a better pros- 
pect. 

I now took leave of printing, as I thought, forever, and 
was daily employed in my new business, going about with Mr. 
Denham among the tradesmen to purchase various articles, 
and seeing them packed up, doing errands, calling upon work- 
men to dispatch, etc.; and, when all was on board, I had a 
few days' leisure. On one of these days, I was, to my surprise, 
sent for by a great man I knew only by name, a Sir William 



84 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

"VYyndham,* and I waited upon him. He had heard by some 
means or other of my swimming from Chelsea to Blackfriar's, 
and of my teaching Wygate and another young man to swim 
in a few hours. He had two sons, about to set out on 
their travels ; he wished to have them first taught swimming, 
and proposed to gratify me handsomely if I would teach 
them. They were not yet come to town, and my stay was 
uncertain, so I could not undertake it; but from this incident 
I thought it likely that, if I were to remain in England and 
open a swimming-school, I might get a good deal of money; 
and it struck me so strongly, that, had the overture been 
sooner made me, probably I should not so soon have returned 
to America. After many years, you and I had something of 
more importance to do with one of these sons of Sir William 
Wyndham, become Earl of Egremont, which I shall mention 
in its place. 

Thus I spent about eighteen months in London ; most part 
of the time I worked hard at my business, and spent but little 
upon myself except in seeing plays and in books. My friend 
Ealph had kept me poor; he owed me about twenty-seven 
pounds, which I was now never likely to receive; a great sum 
out of my small earnings ! I loved him, notwithstanding, for 
he had many amiable qualities. I had by no means improved 
my fortune; but I had picked up some very ingenious ac- 
quaintances, whose conversation was of great advantage to me ; 
and I had read considerably. 

We sailed from Gravesend on the 23d of July, 1726. For 
the incidents of the voyage, I refer you to my journal, where 
you will find them all minutely related. Perhaps the most 
important part of that journal is the ylan ^ to be found in it, 
which I formed at sea, for regulating my future conduct in 

* Sir William Wyndham, 1687- ^ This plan was not preserved, al- 

1740, a leader of the opposition to though there are others of later date 
Sir Robert Walpole. which give an idea of the contents. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 85 

life. It is the more remarkable, as being formed when I was 
so young, and yet being pretty faithfully adhered to quite 
through to old age. 

We landed in Philadelphia on the 11th of October, where I 
found sundry alterations. Keith was no longer governor, 
being superseded by Major Gordon. I met him walking the 
streets as a common citizen. He seemed a little ashamed at 
seeing me, but passed without saying anything. I should 
have been as much ashamed at seeing Miss Eead, had not her 
friends, despairing with reason of my return after the receipt 
of my letter, persuaded her to marry another, one Eogers, a 
potter, which was done in my absence. With him, however, 
she was never happy, and soon parted from him, refusing to 
live with him or bear his name, it being now said that he 
had another wife. He was a worthless fellow, though an 
excellent workman, which was the temptation to her friends. 
He got into debt, ran away in 1727 or 1728, went to the West 
Indies, and died there. Keimer had got a better house, a 
shop well supplied with stationery, plenty of new types, 
a number of hands, though none good, and seemed to have a 
great deal of business. 

Mr. Denham took a store in Water Street, where we opened 
our goods; I attended the business diligently, studied ac- 
counts, and grew, in a little time, expert at selling. We 
lodged and boarded together; he counseled me as a father, 
having a sincere regard for me. I respected and loved him, 
and we might have gone on together very happy; but in the 
beginning of February, 172%, when I had just passed my 
twenty-first year, we were both taken ill. My distemper was 
a pleurisy, which very nearly carried me off. I suffered a 
good deal, gave up the point in my own mind, and was rather 
disappointed when I found myself recovering, regretting, in 
some degree, that I must now, some time, or other, have all 
that disagreeable work to do over again. I forgot what his 



S6 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

distemper was; it held him a long time, and at length car- 
ried him off. He left me a small legacy in a nuncupative ^ 
will, as a token of his kindness for me, and he left me once 
more to the wide world ; for the store was taken into the care 
of his executors, and my employment under him ended. 

My brother-in-law. Holmes, being now at Philadelphia, ad- 
vised my return to my business ; and Keimer tempted me, with 
an offer of large wages by the year, to come and take the man- 
agement of his printing-house, that he might better attend 
his stationer's shop. I had heard a bad character of him in 
London from his wife and her friends, and was not fond of 
having any more to do with him. I tried for farther employ- 
ment as a merchant's clerk; but, not readily meeting with 
any, I closed again with Keimer. I found in his house these 
hands : Hugh Meredith, a Welsh Pennsylvanian, thirty years of 
age, bred to country work; honest, sensible, had a great deal 
of solid observation, was something of a reader, but given to 
drink. Stephen Potts, a young countryman of full age, bred 
to the same, of uncommon natural parts, and great wit and 
humor, but a little idle. These he had agreed with at extreme 
low wages per week, to be raised a shilling every three months, 
as they would deserve by improving in their business ; and the 
expectation of these high wages, to come on hereafter, was 
what he had drawn them in with. Meredith was to work at 
press. Potts at bookbinding, which he, by agreement, was to 
teach them, though he knew neither one nor t'other. John 
, a wild Irishman, brought up to no business, whose serv- 
ice, for four years, Keimer had purchased from the captain 
of a ship,'" he, too, was to be made a pressman. George Webb, 
an Oxford scholar, whose time for four years he had likewise 
bought, intending him for a compositor, of whom more pres- 

^ by word of mouth. to come to America by paying their 

■^ As will appear from the story of passage with the promise to work a 
George Webb, it was usual for people certain number of years. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIN FRANKLIN 8'J' 

ently; and David Harry, a country boy, whom lie had taken 
apprentice. 

I soon perceived that the intention of engaging me at wages 
so mucli higher than he had been used to give was, to have 
these raw, cheap hands formed through me; and, as soon as 
I had instructed them, then they being all articled to him, he 
should be able to do without me. I went on, however, very 
cheerfully, put his printing-house in order, which had been in 
great confusion, and brought his hands by degrees to mind 
their business and to do it better. 

It was an odd thing to find an Oxford scholar in the situ- 
ation of a bought servant. He was not more than eighteen 
years of age, and gave me this account of himself ; that he was 
born in Gloucester, educated at a grammar-school ^ there, had 
been distinguished among the scholars for some apparent su- 
periority in performing his part, when they exhibited plays; 
belonged to the Witty Club there, and had written some 
pieces in prose and verse, which were printed in the Gloucester 
newspapers; thence he was sent to Oxford; where he con- 
tinued about a j^ear, but not well satisfied, wishing of all things 
to see London, and become a player.^ At length, receiving 
his quarterly allowance of fifteen guineas, instead of discharg- 
ing his debts he walked out of town, hid his gow^n in a furze 
bush, and footed it to London, where, having no friends to 
advise him, he fell into bad company, soon spent his guineas, 
found no means of being introduced among the players, grew 
necessitous, pawned his clothes, and wanted bread. Walking 
the street very hungry, and not knowing what to do with him- 
self, a crimp^s ^ bill was put into his hand, offering immediate 
entertainment and encouragement to such as would bind them- 
selves to serve in America. He went directly, signed the 
indentures, was put into the ship, and came over, never writ- 

^ as on p. 33, a school for teaching ^ or actor, 

the classical languages. ^ An agent for getting scnmen. 



88 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIN FRANKLIN 

ing a line to acquaint his friends what was become of him. 
He was lively, witty, good-natured, and a pleasant companion, 
but idle, thoughtless, and. imprudent to the last degree. 

John, the Irishman, soon ran away ; with the rest I began to 
live very agreeably, for they all respected me the more, as they 
found Keimer incapable of instructing them, and that from 
me they learned something daily. We never worked on Satur- 
day, that being Keimer's Sabbath, so I had two days for read- 
ing. My acquaintance with ingenious - people in the town 
increased. Keimer himself treated me with great civility 
and apparent regard, and nothing now made me uneasy but 
my debt to Vernon, which I was yet unable to pay, being 
hitherto but a poor economist. He, however, kindly made no 
demand of it. 

Our printing-house often wanted sorts, and there was no 
letter-founder in America ; I had seen types cast at James's in 
London, but without much attention to the manner ; however, 
I now contrived a mold, made use of the letters we had as 
puncheons, struck the matrices in lead, and thus supplied in 
a pretty tolerable way all deficiencies. I also engraved several 
things on occasion; I made the ink; I was warehouseman, 
and everything, and, in short, quite a factotum.^ 

But, however serviceable I might be, I found that my serv- 
ices became every day of less importance, as the other hands 
improved in the business; and, when Keimer paid my second 
quarter's wages, he let me know that he felt them too heavy, 
and thought I should make an abatement. He grew by de- 
grees less civil, put on more of the master, frequently found 
fault, was captious, and seemed ready for an outbreaking. I 
went on, nevertheless, with a good deal of patience, thinking 
that his encumbered circumstances- were partly the cause. At 
length a trifle snapped our connections ; for, a great noise hap- 

2 intellectual. 

3 In the literal sense of "do everything." 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF liENJAMIN^ FRANKLIX 89 

pening near the court-house, I put my head out of the window 
to see what was the matter. Keimer, being in the street, 
looked up and saw me, called out to me in a loud voice and 
angry tone to mind my business, adding some reproachful 
words, that nettled me the more for their publicity, all the 
neighbors who were looking out on the same occasion being 
witnesses how I was treated. He came up immediately into 
the printing-house, continued the quarrel, high words passed 
on both sides, he gave me the quarter's warning we had 
stipulated, expressing a wish that he had not been obliged to so 
long a warning. I told him that his wish was unnecessary, 
for I would leave him that instant; and so, taking my hat, 
walked out of doors, desiring Meredith, whom I saw below, to 
take care of some things I left, and bring them to my lodgings. 

Meredith came accordingly in the evening, when we talked 
my affair over. He had conceived a great regard for me, and 
was very unwilling that I should leave the house while he re- 
mained in it. He dissuaded me from returning to my native 
country, which I began to think of; he reminded me that 
Keimer was in debt for all he possessed; that his creditors 
began to be uneasy; that he kept his shop miserably, sold 
often without profit for ready money, and often trusted with- 
out keeping accounts; that he must therefore fail, which 
would make a vacancy I might profit of. I objected my want 
of money. He then let me know that his father had a high 
opinion of me, and from some discourse that had passed be- 
tween them, he was sure would advance money to set us up, 
if I would enter into partnership with him. " My time,'' says 
he, "will be out with Keimer in the spring; by that time we 
may have our press and types in from London. I am sensible 
I am no workman; if you like it, your skill in the business 
shall be set against the stock I furnish, and we will share the 
profits equally." 

The proposal was agreeable, and I consented; his father 



90 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIX FRAXKLIX 

was in town and approved of it; the more as he saw I had 
great influence with his son, had prevailed on him to abstain 
long from dram-drinking, and he hoped might break him of 
that wretched habit entirely, when we came to be so closely 
connected. I gave an inventory to the father, who carried it 
to a merchant; the things were sent for, the secret was to be 
kept till they should arrive, and in the meantime I was to get 
work, if I could, at the other printing-house. But I found no 
vacancy there, and so remained idle a few days, when Keimer, 
on a prospect of being employed to print some paper money 
in New Jersey, which would require cuts and various types 
that I only could supply, and apprehending Bradford might 
engage me and get the job from him, sent me a very civil mes- 
sage, that old friends should not part for a few words, the 
effect of sudden passion, and wishing me to return. Meredith 
persuaded me to comply, as it would give more opportunity 
for his improvement under my daily instructions; so I re- 
turned, and we went on more smoothly than for some time 
before. The New Jersey job was obtained, I contrived a cop- 
per-plate press for it, the first that had been seen in the coun- 
try; I cut several ornaments and checks for the bills. We 
went together to Burlington, where I executed the whole to 
satisfaction ; and he received so large a sum for the work as to 
be enabled thereby to keep his head much longer above water. 
At Burlington I made an acquaintance with many principal 
people of the province. Several of them had been appointed 
by the Assembly a committee to attend the press, and take 
care that no more bills were printed than the law directed. 
They were therefore, by turns, constantly with us, and gen- 
erally he who attended, brought with him a friend or two for 
company. My mind having been much more improved by 
reading than Keimer's, I suppose it was for that reason my 
conversation seemed to be more valued. They had me to 
their houses, introduced me to their friends, and showed mo 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FR\XKLIN 91 

much civility; while he, though the master, was a little neg- 
lected. In truth, he was an odd fish; ignorant of common 
life, fond of rudely opposing received opinions, slovenly to 
extreme dirtiness, enthusiastic * in some points of religion, and 
a little knavish withal. 

We continued there near three months ; and by that time I 
could reckon among my acquired friends, Judge Allen, Samuel 
Bustill, the secretary of the province, Isaac Pearson, Joseph 
Cooper, and several of the Smiths, members of Assembly, and 
Isaac Decow, the Surveyor-General. The latter was a shrewd, 
sagacious old man, who told me that he began for himself, 
when young, by wheeling clay for the brickmakers, learned 
to write after he was of age, carried the chain for surveyors, 
who taught him surveying, and he had now by his industry 
acquired a good estate ; and says he, " I. foresee that you will 
soon work this man out of his business, and make a fortune in 
it at Philadelphia." He had not then the least intimation of 
my intention to set up there or anywhere. These friends were 
afterwards of great use to me, as I occasionally was to some 
of them. They all continued their regard for me as long as 
they lived. 

Before I enter upon my public appearance in business, it 
may be well to let you know the then state of my mind with 
regard to my principles and morals, that you may see how far 
those influenced the future events of my life. My parents 
had early given me religious impressions, and brought me 
through my childhood piously in the Dissenting ^ way. But 
I was scarce fifteen, when, after doubting by turns of several 
points, as I found them disputed in the different books I read, 
I began to doubt of Eevelation itself. Some books against 
Deism fell into my hands ; they were said to be the substance 

* Full of extravagant ideas. used of American sects, for there is 

^ or non-conformist (see p. 32 note no established church to dissent 
6) ; though the word is not correctly from or conform to. 



92 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

of sermons preached at Boyle's Lectures. It happened that 
they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was in- 
tended by them ; for the arguments of the Deists, which were 
quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the 
refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist.^ My 
arguments perverted some others, particularly Collins and 
Ealph ; but, each of them ' having afterwards wronged me 
greatly without the least compunction, and recollecting Keith's 
conduct towards me (who was another freethinker), and my 
own towards Vernon and Miss Eead, which at times gave me 
great trouble, I began to suspect that this doctrine, though it 
might be true, was not very useful/ My London pamphlet,* 
which had for its motto these lines of Dryden : 

" Whatever is, is right. Though purblind man 
Sees but a part o' the chain, the nearest link: 
His eyes not carrying to the equal beam, 
That poises all above; " 

and from the attributes of God, His infinite wdsdom, goodness 
and power, concluded that nothing could possibly be wrong 
in the world, and that vice and virtue were empty distinctions, 
no such things existing, appeared now not so clever a per- 
formance as I once thought it ; and I doubted whether some 
error had not insinuated itself unperceived into my argument, 
so as to infect all that followed, as is common in metaphysical 
reasonings. 

I grew convinced that truth, sincerity, and integrity in deal- 
ings between man and man were of the utmost importance to 
the felicity of life; and I formed written resolutions, which 
still remain in my journal book, to practice them ever while I 
lived. Eevelation had indeed no weight with me, as such; 
but I entertained an opinion that, though certain actions 

8 For Deism, see p. 50 note. 

■^ i. e. that it had no moral quality of value in life. 

^mentioned on p. 75. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 93 

might not be bad because they were forbidden by it, or good 
because it commanded them, yet probably those actions might 
be forbidden because they were bad for us, or commanded be- 
cause they were beneficial to us, in their own natures, all the 
circumstances of things considered. And this persuasion, 
with the kind hand of Providence, or some guardian angel, or 
accidental favorable circumstances and situations, or all to- 
gether, preserved me, through this dangerous time of youth, 
and the hazardous situations I was sometimes in among stran- 
gers, remote from the eye and advice of my father, without 
any willful gross immorality or injustice, that might have been 
expected from my want of religion. I say willful, because 
the instances I have mentioned had something of necessity in 
them, from my youth, inexperience, and the knavery of others. 
I had therefore a tolerable character to begin the world with ; 
I valued it properly, and determined to preserve it. 

We had not been long returned to Philadelphia before the 
new types arrived from London. We settled with Keimer, 
and left him by his consent before he heard of it. We found 
a house to hire near the market, and took it. To lessen the 
rent, which was then but twenty-four pounds a year, though 
I have since known it to be let for seventy, we took in Thomas 
Godfrey, a glazier, and his family, who were to pay a con- 
siderable part of it to us, and we to board with them. We 
had scarce opened our letters and put our press in order, be- 
fore George House, an acquaintance of mine, brought a coun- 
tryman to us, whom he had met in the street inquiring for a 
printer. All our cash was now expended in the variety of 
particulars we had been obliged to procure, and this country- 
man's five shillings, being our first-fruits, and coming so sea- 
sonably, gave me more pleasure than any crown I have since 
earned; and the gratitude I felt toward House has made me 
often more ready than perhaps I should otherwise have been 
to assist young beginners. 



94 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIJ^ FRANKLIN 

" There are croakers in every country, always boding its ruin. 
Such a one then lived in Philadelphia; a person of note, an 
elderly man, with a wise look and a very grave manner of 
speaking; his name was Samuel Mickle. This gentleman, a 
stranger to me, stopped one day at my door, and asked me if 
I was the young man who had lately opened a new printing- 
house. Being answered in the affirmative, he said he was 
sorry for me, because it was an expensive undertaking, and 
the expense would be lost; for Philadelphia was a sinking 
place, the people already half bankrupts, or near being so, all 
appearances to the contrary, such as new buildings and the 
rise of rents, being to his certain knowledge fallacious; for 
they were, in fact, among the things that would soon ruin us. 
And he gave me such a detail of misfortunes now existing, or 
that were soon to exist, that he left me half melancholy. Had 
I known him before I engaged in this business, probably I 
never should have done it. This man continued to live in 
this decaying place, and to declaim in the same strain, refus- 
ing for many years to buy a house there, because all was going 
to destruction; and at last I had the pleasure of seeing him 
give five times as much for one as he might have bought it 
for when he first began his croaking. 

I should have mentioned before, that, in the autumn of the 
preceding year, I had formed most of my ingenious acquaint- 
ance into a club of mutual improvement, which we called the 
Junto ; ^ we met on Friday evenings. The rules that I drew 
up required that every member, in his turn, should produce 
one or more queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natu- 
ral Philosophy,^ to be discussed by the company ; and once in 
three months produce and read an essay of his own writing, 
on any subject he pleased. Our debates were to be under the 

° From the Spanish word meaning * The expression was commonly 

"council, committee." In the 17th used for physics and chemistry and 

century it became common in politics all of what are now called the Nat- 

and also in other uses. oral Sciences. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 95 

direction of a president, and to be conducted in the sincere 
spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute, or 
desire of victory; and, to prevent warmth, all expressions of 
positiveness in opinions, or direct contradiction, were, after 
some time, made contraband, and prohibited under small 
pecuniary penalties. 

The first members were Joseph Breintnal, a copier of deeds 
for the scriveners, a good-natured, friendly, middle-aged man, 
a great lover of poetry, reading all he could meet with, and 
writing some that was tolerable ; very ingenious in many little 
nicknackeries, and of sensible conversation. 

Thomas Godfrey, a self-taught mathematician, great in his 
way, and afterward inventor of what is now called Hadley's 
Quadrant.^ But he knew little out of his way, and was not a 
pleasing companion; as, like most great mathematicians I 
have met with, he expected universal precision in everything 
said, or was forever denying or distinguishing upon trifles, to 
the disturbance of all conversation. He soon left us. 

Nicholas Scull, a surveyor, afterward Surveyor-General, 
who loved books, and sometimes made a few verses. 

William Parsons, bred a shoemaker, but loving reading, 
had acquired a considerable share of mathematics, which he 
first studied with a view of astrolog}', that he afterwards 
laughed at. He also became Surveyor-General. 

William Maugridge, a joiner, a most exquisite mechanic, 
and a solid, sensible man. 

Hugh Meredith, Stephen Potts, and George Webb I have 
characterized before. 

Eobert Grace, a young gentleman of some fortune, generous, 
lively, and witty; a lover of punning and of his friends. 

And William Coleman, then a merchant's clerk, about my 

2 An instrument of navigation for Hadley was a London instrument- 
measuring the height of the sun. It maker who seems to have had the 
was first called "Godfrey's Bow." same idea at mucli the same time. 



96 THE AUTOBIOGKAPIIY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

age, who had the coolest, clearest head, the best heart, and 
the exactest morals of almost any man I ever met with. He 
became afterwards a merchant of great note, and one of our 
provincial judges. Our friendship continued without inter- 
ruption to his death, upward of forty years ; and the club ^ 
continued almost as long, and was the best school of philoso- 
phy, morality, and politics that then existed in the province ; 
for our queries, which were read the week preceding their dis- 
cussion, put us upon reading with attention upon the several 
subjects, that we might speak more to the purpose; and here, 
too, we acquired better habits of conversation, everything be- 
ing studied in our rules which might prevent our disgusting 
each other. From hence the long continuance of the club, 
wdiich I shall have frequent occasion to speak further of here- 
after. 

But my giving this account of it here is to show something 
of the interest I had, every one of these exerting themselves 
in recommending business to us. Breintnal particularly pro- 
cured us from the Quakers the printing forty sheets of their 
history, the rest being to be done by Keimer; and upon this 
we worked exceedingly hard, for the price was low. It was a 
folio, pro patria size, in pica, with long-prima notes. I com- 
posed of it a sheet a day, and Meredith worked it off at press ; 
it was often eleven at night, and sometimes later, before I 
had finished my distribution for the next day's work, for the 
little jobs sent in by our other friends now and then put us 
back. But so determined I was to continue doing a sheet a 
day of the folio, that one night, when, having imposed my 
forms, I thought my day's work over, one of them by accident 
was broken, and two pages reduced to pi,* I immediately dis- 
tributed and composed it over again before I went to bed : and 

3 The Junto was at first a debating that it became a great influence in 
society. But the aim, perhaps by the the city, 
leading of Franklin, was so practical * When type that has been set up 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 97 

this industry, visible to our neighbors, began to give us char- 
acter and credit; particularly, I was told, that mention being 
made of the new printing-office at the merchants' Every-night 
club, the general opinion was that it must fail, there being 
already two printers in the place, Keimer and Bradford; but 
Dr. Baird (whom you and I saw many years after at his native 
place, St. Andrew's in Scotland) gave a contrary opinion: 
" For the industry of that Franklin," says he, " is superior to 
anything I ever saw of the kind; I see him still at work 
when I go home from club, and he is at work again before his 
neighbors are out of bed." This struck the rest, and we soon 
after had offers from one of them to supply us with station- 
ery; but as yet we did not choose to engage in shop business. 

I mention this industry the more particularly and the more 
freely, though it seems to be talking in my own praise, that 
those of my posterity, who shall read it, may know the use of 
that virtue, when the}^ see its effects in my favor throughout 
this relation. 

George Webb, who had found a female friend that lent him 
wherewith to purchase his time ^ of Keimer, now came to offer 
himself as a journeyman to us. We could not then employ 
him; but I foolishly let him know as a secret that I soon 
intended to begin a newspaper, and might then have work for 
him. My hopes of success, as I told him, were founded on 
this, that the then only newspaper, printed by Bradford, was 
a paltry thing, wretchedly managed, no way entertaining, and 
yet was profitable to him; I therefore thought a good paper 
would scarcely fail of good encouragement. I requested 
Webb not to mention it; but he told it to Keimer, who im- 
mediately, to be beforehand with me, published proposals 
for printing one himself, on which Webb was to be employed. 

has "been by accident all mixed to- put in its place in the case, before it 
gether it is called " pi " : it must can be used again conveniently, 
then be distributed, i. e., each letter ^ The time for which he was bound 

to serve. 



98 THE AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

I resented this; and, to counteract them, as I could not yet 
begin our paper, I wrote several pieces of entertainment for 
Bradford's paper, under the title of the Busy Body, which 
Breintnal continued some months. By this means the atten- 
tion of the public was fixed on that paper, and Keimer's pro- 
posals, which were burlesqued and ridiculed, were disregarded. 
He began his paper/ however, and, after carrying it on three 
quarters of a year, with at most only ninety subscribers, he 
offered it to me for a trifle; and I, having been ready some 
time to go on with it, took it in hand directly ; and it proved 
in a few years extremely profitable to me. 

I perceive that I am apt to speak in the singular number, 
though our partnership still continued; the reason may be 
that, in fact, the whole management of the business lay upon 
me. Meredith was no compositor, a poor pressman, and sel- 
dom sober. My friends lamented my connection with him, 
but I was to make the best of it. 

Our first papers made a quite different appearance from any 
before in the province ; a better type, and better printed ; but 
some spirited remarks of my writing, on the dispute then going 
on between Governor Burnet and the Massachusetts Assembly, 
struck the principal people, occasioned the paper and the 
manager of it to be much talked of, and in a few weeks 
brought them all to be our subscribers. 

Their example was followed by many, and our number went 
on growing continually. This was one of the first good effects 
of my having learned a little to scribble ; another was, that the 
leading men, seeing a newspaper now in the hands of one who 
could also handle a pen, thought it convenient to oblige and 

6 The paper was called The Vni- lin took the paper he dropped the 

versal Instructor in all Arts and Sci- idea of being a universal instructor, 

enres and Pennsylvania Gazette. Be- ceased to republish Chalmers, called 

sides printing what news of the day the paper simply The Pennsylvania 

could be got, the paper began to re- Gazette and made it a paper for real 

print Chalmer's " Dictionary," an en news and comment on the happenings 

cyclopedia of the time. When Frank- of the day. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 99 

encourage me. Bradford still printed the votes, and laws, 
and other public business. He had printed an address of the 
House ^ to the governor, in a coarse, blundering manner ; we 
reprinted it elegantly and. correctly, and sent one to every 
member. They were sensible of the difference; it strength- 
ened the hands of our friends in the House, and they voted us 
their printers for the year ensuing. 

Among my friends in the House I must not forget Mr. 
Hamilton, before mentioned, who was then returned from 
England, and had a seat in it. He interested himself for me 
strongly in that instance, as he did in many others afterward, 
continuing his patronage till his death. 

Mr. Vernon, about this time, put me in mind of the debt I 
owed him, but did not press me. I wrote him an ingenuous 
letter of acknowledgment, craved his forbearance a little 
longer, which he allowed, me, and as soon as I was able, I paid 
the principal with interest, and many thanks ; so that erratum 
was in some degree corrected. 

But now another difficulty came upon me which I had never 
the least reason to expect. Mr. Meredith's father, who was 
to have paid for our printing-house, according to the expecta- 
tions given me, was able to advance only one hundred pounds 
currency, which had been paid ; and a hundred more was due 
to the merchant, who grew impatient, and sued us for all. 
We gave bail, but saw that, if the money could not be raised 
in time, the suit must soon come to a judgment and execu- 
tion, and our hopeful prospects must, with us, be ruined, as 
the press and letters must be sold for payment, perhaps at 
half price. 

In this distress two true friends, whose kindness I have 
never forgotten, nor ever shall forget while I can remember 
anything, came to me separately, unknown to each other, and, 
without any application from me, offering each of them to 

■^ The legislative body of the province. 



100 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 0^ BEXJAMIX FRAXKLIX 

advance ine all the money that should be necessary to enable 
me to take the whole business upon myself, if that should be 
practicable ; but they did not like my continuing the partner- 
ship with Meredith, who, as they said, was often seen drunk in 
the streets, and playing at low games in alehouses, much to our 
discredit. These two friends were William Coleman and 
Eobert Grace.^ I told them I could not propose a separation 
while any prospect remained of the Merediths' fulfilling their 
part of our agreement, because I thought myself under great 
obligations to them for what they had done, and w^ould do if 
they could; but, if they finally failed in their performance, 
and our partnership must be dissolved, I should then think 
myself at liberty to accept the assistance of my friends. 

Thus the matter rested for some time, when I said to my 
partner, " Perhaps your father is dissatisfied at the part you 
have undertaken in this affair of ours, and is unwilling to ad- 
vance for you and me what he would for you alone. If that 
is the case, tell me, and I will resign the whole to you, and go 
about my business." " Xo,'' said he, " my father has really 
been disappointed, and is really unable; and I am unwilling 
to distress him farther. I see this is a business I am not fit 
for. I was bred a farmer, and it was a folly in me to come 
to town, and put myself, at thirty years of age, an apprentice 
to learn a new trade. Many of our Welsh people are going to 
settle in Xorth Carolina, where land is cheap. I am inclined 
to go with them, and follow my old employment. You may 
find friends to assist you. If you will take the debts of the 
company upon you ; return to my father the hundred pound he 
had advanced ; pay my little personal debts, and give me thirty 
pounds and a new saddle, I will relinquish the partnership, 
and leave the whole in your hands." I agreed to this pro- 
posal : it was drawn up in writing, signed, and sealed imme- 
diatelv. I gave him what he demanded, and he went soon 

8 They wiU be noticed to be members of the Junto. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIX FRAXKLIX 101 

after to Carolina, from whence he sent me next year two 
long letters, containing the best account that had been given 
of that country, the climate, the soil, husbandry, etc., for in 
those matters he was very judicious. I printed them in the 
papers, and they gave great satisfaction to the public. 

As soon as he was gone, I recurred to my two friends ; and 
because I would not give an unkind preference to either, I 
took half of what each had offered and I w^anted of one, and 
half of the other; paid off the company's debts, and went on 
with the business in my own name, advertising that the part- 
nership was dissolved. I think this was in or about the year 
1729.^ 

About this time there was a cry among the people for more 
paper money, only fifteen thousand pounds being extant in 
the province, and that soon to be sunk.^ The wealthy inhabi- 
tants opposed any addition, being against all paper currency, 
from an apprehension that it would depreciate, as it had done 
in New England, to the prejudice of all creditors. We had 
discussed this point in our Junto, where I was on the side of 
an addition, being persuaded that the first small sum struck 
in 1723 had done much good by increasing the trade, employ- 
ment, and number of inhabitants in the province, since I now 
saw all the old houses inhabited, and many new ones building; 
whereas I remembered well, that when I first walked about 
the streets of Philadelphia, eating my roll, I saw most of the 
houses in Walnut Street, between Second and Front Streets, 
with bills on their doors, " To be let " ; and many likewise in 
Chestnut Street and other streets, which made me then think 
the inhabitants of the city were deserting it one after another. 

Our debates possessed me so fully of the subject, that I 
wrote and printed an anommious pamphlet on it, entitled 

® It was in 1730, according to that there was some silver in eircu- 
Sparks. lation, but apparently not enough. 

^ It will be remembered (-p. 54) 



102 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

" The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency." It was 
well received by the common people in general; but the rich 
men disliked it, for it increased and strengthened the clamor 
for more money, and they happening to have no writers 
among them that were able to answer it, their opposition 
slackened, and the point was carried by a majority in the 
House. My friends there, who conceived I had been of some 
service, thought fit to reward me by employing me in printing 
the money; a very profitable job and a great help to me. 
This was another advantage gained by my being able to write. 

The utility of this currency became by time and experience 
so evident as never afterwards to be much disputed; so that 
it grew soon to fifty-five thousand pounds, and in 1739 to 
eighty thousand pounds, since which it rose during war to 
upwards of three hundred and fifty thousand pounds, trade, 
building, and inhabitants all the while increasing, though I 
now think there are limits beyond which the quantity may be 
hurtful. 

I soon after obtained, through my friend Hamilton, the 
printing of the Newcastle paper money, another profitable job 
as I then thought it ; small things appearing great to those in 
small circumstances; and these, to me, were really great ad- 
vantages, as they were great encouragements. He procured 
for me, also, the printing of the laws and votes of that govern- 
ment, which continued in my hands as long as I followed the 
business. 

I now opened a little stationer's shop. I had in it blanks of 
all sorts, the correctest that ever appeared among us, being 
assisted in that by my friend Breintnal. I had also paper, 
parchment, chapmen's books,^ etc. One WTiitemash, a com- 
positor I had known in London, an excellent workman, now 
came to me, and worked with me constantly and diligently; 
and I took an apprentice, the son of Aquila Eose. 

2 See p. 38 note. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 103 

I began now gradually to pay off the debt I was "under for 
the printing-house. In order to secure my credit and char- 
acter as a tradesman, I took care not only to be in reality 
industrious and frugal, but to avoid all appearances to the 
contrary. I dressed plainly; I was seen at no places of idle 
diversion. I never went out a fishing or shooting; a book, 
indeed, sometimes debauched me from my work, but that was 
seldom, snug, and gave no scandal; and to show that I was 
not above my business, I sometimes brought home the paper 
I purchased at the stores through the streets on a wheelbarrow. 
Thus being esteemed an industrious, thriving young man, and 
paying duly for what I bought, the merchants who imported 
stationery solicited my custom ; others proposed supplying me 
with books, and I went on swimmingly. In the meantime, 
Keimer's credit and business declining daily, he was at last 
forced to sell his printing-house to satisfy his creditors. He 
went to Barbados, and there lived some years in very poor 
circumstances. 

His apprentice, David Harry, whom I had instructed while 
I worked with him, set up in his place at Philadelphia, having 
bought his materials. I was at first apprehensive of a power- 
ful rival in Harry, as his friends were very able, and had a 
good deal of interest. I therefore proposed a partnership to 
him, which he, fortunately for me, rejected with scorn. He 
was very proud, dressed like a gentleman, lived expensively, 
took much diversion and pleasure abroad, ran in debt, and 
neglected his business ; upon which all business left him ; and 
finding nothing to do, he followed Keimer to Barbados, tak- 
ing the printing-house with him. There this apprentice em- 
ployed his former master as a journeyman; they quarreled 
often ; Harry went continually behindhand, and at length was 
forced to sell his types and return to his country work in 
Pennsylvania. The person that bought them employed 
Keimer to use them, but in a few years he died. 



104 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

There remained now no competitor with me at Philadelphia 
but the old one, Bradford ; who was rich and easy, did a little 
printing now and then by straggling hands, but was not very 
anxious about the business. However, as he kept the post- 
office, it was imagined he had better opportunities of obtaining 
news; his paper was thought a better distributor of ad- 
vertisements than mine, and therefore had many more, which 
was a profitable thing to him, and a disadvantage to me ; ^ for, 
though I did indeed receive and send papers by post, yet the 
pu1)lic opinion was otherwise, for what I did send was by 
bribing the riders, who took them privately, Bradford being 
unkind enough to forbid it, which occasioned some resent- 
ment on my part ; and I thought so meanly of him for it, that, 
when I afterward came into his situation, I took care never 
to imitate it. 

I had hitherto continued to board with Godfrey, who lived 
in part of my house with his wife and children, and had one 
side of the shop for his glazier's business, though he worked 
little, being always absorbed in his mathematics. Mrs. God- 
frey projected a match for me with a relation's daughter, took 
opportunities of bringing us often together, till a serious 
courtship on my part ensued, the girl being in herself very 
deserving. The old folks encouraged me by continual invita- 
tions to supper, and by leaving us together, till at length it 
was time to explain. Mrs. Godfrey managed our little treaty. 
I let her know that I expected as much money with their 
daughter as would pay off my remaining debt for the printing- 
house, which I believe was not then above a hundred pounds. 
She brought me word they had no such sum to spare; I said 
they might mortgage their house in the loan-office. The 
answer to this, after some days, was, that they did not ap- 
prove the match; that, on inquiry of Bradford, they had 

^Advertising was not so important an element in newspaper work as it is 
to-day: still its value is seen by this passage. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 105 

been informed the printing business was not a profitable one ; 
the types would soon be worn out, and more wanted ; that S. 
Keimer and D. Harry had failed one after the other, and I 
should probably soon follow them; and, therefore, I was for- 
bidden the house, and the daughter shut up. 

Whether this was a real change of sentiment, or only arti- 
fice, on a supposition of our being too far engaged in affection 
to retract, and therefore that we should steal a marriage, 
which would leave them at liberty to give or withhold what 
they pleased, I know not; but I suspected the latter, resented 
it, and went no more. Mrs. Godfrey brought me afterward 
some more favorable accounts of their disposition, and would 
have drawn me on again; but I declared absolutely my reso- 
lution to have nothing more to do with that family. This was 
resented by the Godfreys; we differed, and they removed, 
leaving me the whole house, and I resolved to take no more 
inmates. 

But this affair having turned my thoughts to marriage, I 
looked round me and made overtures of acquaintance in other 
places; but soon found that, the business of a printer being 
generally thought a poor one, I was not to expect money with 
a wife, unless with such a one as I should not otherwise think 
agreeable. ... A friendly correspondence as neighbors 
and old acquaintances . had continued between me and Mrs. 
Read's family, who all had a regard for me from the time of 
my first lodging in their house. I was often invited there 
and consulted in their affairs, wherein I sometimes was of 
service. I pitied poor Miss Eead's unfortunate situation,* 
who was generally dejected, seldom cheerful, and avoided 
company. I considered my giddiness and inconstancy when 
in London as in a great degree the cause of her unhappiness, 
though the mother was good enough to think the fault more 

* It will be remembered (p. 85) that she had been engaged to be married 
to one Rogers who had deserted her. 



lOG THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

her own than mine, as she had prevented our marrying before 
I went thither, and persuaded the other match ^ in my absence. 
Our mutual affection was revived, but there were now great 
objections to our union. The match was indeed looked upon 
as invalid, a preceding wife being said to be living in England; 
but this could not easily be proved, because of the distance; 
and, though there was a report of his death, it was not cer- 
tain. Then, though it should be true, he had left many debts, 
which his successor might be called upon to pay. We ven- 
tured, however, over all these difficulties, and I took her to 
wife, September 1st, 1730. None of the inconveniences hap- 
pened that we had apprehended ; she proved a good and faith- 
ful helpmate, assisted me much by attending shop ; we throve 
together, and have ever mutually endeavored to make each 
other happy. Thus I corrected that great erratum as well 
as I could. 

About this time, our club meeting, not at a tavern, but in a 
little room of Mr. Grace's, set apart for that purpose, a prop- 
osition was made by me, that, since our books were often 
referred to in our disquisitions upon the queries, it might be 
convenient to us to have them all together where we met, that 
upon occasion they might be consulted ; and by thus clubbing 
our books to a common library, we should, while we liked to 
keep them together, have each of us the advantage of using 
the books of all the other members, which would be nearly as 
beneficial as if each owned the whole. It was liked and agreed 
to, and we filled one end of the room with such books as we 
could best spare. The number was not so great as we ex- 
pected; and though they had been of great use, yet some 
inconveniences occurring for want of due care of them, the 
collection, after about a year, was separated, and each took 
his books home again. 

And now I set on foot my first project of a public nature, 

" i. e. her marriage to Rogers. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 107 

that for a subscription library.^ I drew up the proposals, got 
them put into form by our great scrivener, Brockden, and, by 
the help of my friends in the Junto, procured fifty subscribers 
of forty shillings each to begin with, and ten shillings a year 
for fifty years, the term our company was to continue. We 
afterwards obtained a charter, the company being increased 
to one hundred ; this was the mother of all the North Ameri- 
can subscription libraries, now so numerous.'^ It is become a 
great thing itself, and continually increasing. These libraries 
have improved the general conversation of the Americans, 
made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as 
most gentlemen from other countries, and perhaps have con- 
tributed in some degree to the stand so generally made 
throughout the colonies in defense of their privileges. 

Memo. Thus far was written with the intention expressed 
in the beginning, and therefore contains several little family 
anecdotes of no importance to others. What follows was 
written many years after in compliance with the advice con- 
tained in these letters,^ and accordingly intended for the pub- 
lic. The affairs of the Eevolution occasioned the interrup- 
tion. 

Continuation of the Account of my Life, Begun at 
Passy, near Paris, 1784. 

It is some time since I received the above letters, but I have 
been too busy till now to think of complying with the request 
they contain. It might, too, be much better done if I were 
at home among my papers, which would aid my memory, and 

® subsequently called " The Li- the country older than this started by 

brary Company of Philadelphia." Franklin. 

^ There were at this time few pub- ^ *' These letters," from Abel James 

lie libraries. The colleges, like and Benjamin Vaughan, are omitted: 

Harvard and Yale, had their libraries for the circumstances of Franklin's 

but otherwise the New York Society writing, see the Introduction, p. 9. 
Library is the only public library in 



108 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIX FRANKLIN 

help to ascertain dates; but my return being uncertain, and 
having just now a little leisure, I will endeavor to recollect 
and write what I can : if I live to get home, it may there be 
corrected and improved. 

Xot having any copy here of what is already written, I 
know not whether an account is given of the means I used 
to establish the Philadelphia public library, which, from a 
small beginning, is now become so considerable, though I 
remember to have come down to near the time of that trans- 
action (1730). I will therefore begin here with an account of 
it, which may be struck out if found to have been already 
given. 

At the time I established myself in Pennsylvania, there v/as 
not a good bookseller's shop in any of the colonies to the 
southward of Boston. In New York and Philadelphia the 
printers were indeed stationers; they sold only paper, etc., 
almanacs, ballads, and a few common school-books. Those 
who loved reading were obliged to send for their books from 
England; the members of the Junto had each a few. We 
had left the alehouse, where we first met, and hired a room to 
hold our club in. I proposed that we should all of us bring 
our books to that room, where they would not only be ready 
to consult in our conferences, but become a common benefit, 
each of us being at liberty to borrow such as he wished to 
read at home. This was accordingly done, and for some time 
contented us. 

Finding the advantage of this little collection, I proposed 
to render the benefit from books more common,^ by commenc- 
ing a public subscription library. I drew a sketch of the 
plan and rules that would be necessary, and got a skillful con- 
veyancer, Mr. Charles Brockden, to put the whole in form of 
articles of agreement to be subscribed, by which each sub- 
scriber engaged to pay a certain sum down for the first pur- 

^ more general. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 109 

chase of books, and an annual contribution for increasing, 
them. So few were the readers at that time in Philadelphia, 
and the majority of us so poor, that I was not able, with great 
industry, to find more than fifty persons, mostly young trades- 
men, willing to pay down for this purpose forty shillings each, 
and ten shillings per annum. On this little fund we began. 
The books were imported; the library was opened one day in 
the week for lending to the subscribers, on their promissory 
notes to pay double the value if not duly returned. The in- 
stitution soon manifested its utility, was imitated by other 
towns, and in other provinces. The libraries were augmented 
by donations; reading became fashionable; and our people, 
having no public amusements to divert their attention from 
study, became better acquainted with books, and in a few 
years were observed by strangers to be better instructed and 
more intelligent than people of the same rank generally are 
in other countries. 

When we were about to sign the above-mentioned articles, 
which were to be binding on us, our heirs, etc., for fifty years, 
Mr. Brockden, the scrivener, said to us : " You are young 
men, but it is scarcely probable that any of you will live to 
see the expiration of the term fixed in the instrument." A 
number of us, however, are yet living; but the instrument 
was after a few years rendered null by a charter that incor- 
porated and gave perpetuity to the company.^ 

The objections and reluctances I met with i^ soliciting the 
subscriptions made me soon feel the impropriety of presenting 
one's self as the proposer of any useful project, that might be 
supposed to raise one's reputation in the smallest degree 
above that of one's neighbors, when one has need of their 
assistance to accomplish that project. I therefore put myself 
as much as I could out of sight, and stated it as a scheme of 
a number of friends, who had requested me to go about and 

^ The Library Company was incorporated in 1742. 



110 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

propose it to such as they thought lovers of reading.- In this 
way my affair went on more smoothly, and I ever after prac- 
ticed it on such occasions; and, from my frequent successes, 
can heartily recommend it. The present little sacrifice of 
your vanity will afterwards be amply repaid. If it remains a 
while uncertain to whom the merit belongs, someone more 
vain than yourself will be encouraged to claim it, and then 
even envy will be disposed to do you justice by plucking those 
assumed feathers, and restoring them to their right owner. 

This library afforded me the means of improvement by con- 
stant study, for which I set apart an hour or two each day, 
and thus repaired in some degree the loss of the learned 
education my father once intended for me. Eeading was the 
only amusement I allowed myself. I spent no time in taverns, 
games, or frolics of any kind; and my industry in my busi- 
ness continued as indefatigable as it was necessary. I was 
indebted for my printing-house ; I had a young family coming 
on to be educated, and I had to contend with for business two 
printers, who were established in the place before me. My 
circumstances, however, grew daily easier. My original habits 
of frugality continuing, and my father having, among his 
instructions to me when a boy, frequently repeated a proverb 
of Solomon, " Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he 
shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean 
men," I from thence considered industry as a means of 
obtaining wealth and distinction, which encouraged me, 
though I did not think that I should ever literally stand 
before hings, which, however, has since happened ; for I have 
stood before five, and even had the honor of sitting down with 
one, the King of Denmark, to dinner. 

We have an English proverb that says, ''He that ivould 

^ This is one of those pieces of came famous. We shall find several 
practical wisdom and knowledge of applications of the idea in the fol- 
the world for which Franklin be- lowing pages. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 111 

thrive must ask his wife/' ^ It was lucky for me that I had 
one as much disposed to industry and frugality as myself. 
She assisted me cheerfully in my business, folding and stitch- 
ing pamphlets, tending shop, purchasing old linen rags for the 
paper-makers, etc., etc. We kept no idle servants, our table 
was plain and simple, our furniture of the cheapest. For 
instance, my breakfast was a long time bread and milk (no 
tea), and I ate it out of a two-penny earthen porriger, with 
a pewter spoon. But mark how luxury will enter families, 
and make a progress, in spite of principle : being called one 
morning to breakfast, I found it in a China bowl, with a 
spoon of silver ! They had been bought for me without my 
knowledge by my wife, and had cost her the enormous sum of 
three-and-twenty shillings, for which she had no other excuse 
or apology to make, but that she thought hei" husband de- 
served a silver spoon and China bowl as well as any of his 
neighbors. This was the first appearance of plate and China 
in our house, which afterward, in a course of years, as our 
wealth increased, augmented gradually to several hundred 
pounds in value. 

I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian ; * and 
though some of the dogmas of that persuasion, such as the 
eternal decrees of God, election, reprobation, etc., appeared to 
me unintelligible, others doubtful, and I early absented my- 
self from the public assemblies of the sect, Sunday being 
my studying day, I never wa& without some religious princi- 
ples. I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the 
Deity ; that He made the world, and governed it by His Provi- 
dence ; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing 
good to man ; that our souls are immortal ; and that all crime 
will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or here- 

3 That is, he will be unable to do had become in his youth what was 

without her cooperation. called a Deist, and that in after years 

* We have already seen something his ideas changed somewhat, from his 

of Franklin's religious views: that he experience with Ralph and Collins. 



112 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIN FRANKLIN 

after. ^ These I esteemed the essentials of every religion ; and, 
being to be found in all the religions we had in. our country, I 
respected them all, though with different degrees of respect, 
as I found them more or less mixed with other articles, which, 
without any tendency to inspire, promote, or confirm morality, 
served principally to divide us, and make us unfriendly to one 
another. This respect to all, with an opinion that the worst 
had some good effects, induced me to avoid all discourse that 
might tend to lessen the good opinion another might have of 
his own religion ; and as our province increased in people, and 
new places of worship were continually w^anted, and generally 
erected by voluntary contribution, my mite for such purpose, 
whatever might be the sect, was never refused. 

Though I seldom attended any public worship, I had still 
an opinion of its propriety, and of its- utility when rightly 
conducted, and I regularly paid my annual subscription for 
the support of the only Presbyterian minister or meeting we 
had in Philadelphia. He used to visit me sometimes as a 
friend, and admonish me to attend his administrations, and I 
was now and then prevailed on to do so, once for five Sundays 
successively. Had he been in my opinion a good preacher, 
perhaps I might have continued,^ notwithstanding the occa- 
sion I had for the Sunday's leisure in my course of study ; but 
his discourses were chiefly either polemic arguments, or ex- 
plications of the peculiar doctrines of our sect, and were all to 
me very dry, uninteresting, and unedifying, since not a single 

s Although Franklin says he never this time although it did afterward, 

doubted this, yet it has no place in In a letter written to his daughter 

the views to which he converted Col- Sarah, some thirty years after this 

lins and Ralph. time, he says, "Go constantly to 

^ Franklin seems to have had in church, whoever preaches. The act 
mind the idea that the Sunday serv- of devotion in the common prayer- 
ice was for improvement only. The book is your principle business there, 
notion that it was an act of worship- and, if properly attended to, will do 
that ought to be performed seems more towards amending the heart 
never to have occurred to him at than sermons generally can do." 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 113 

moral principle was inculcated or enforced, their aim seeming 
to be rather to make ns Presbj^terians than good citizens. 

At length he took for his text that verse of the fourth 
chapter of Philippians: ''Finally, hretliren, whatsoever 
tilings are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, or of good report, 
if there he any virtue, or any praise, think on these things." 
And I imagined, in a sermon on such a text, we could not miss 
of having some morality. But he confined himself to five 
points only, as meant by the apostle, viz. : 1. Keeping holy 
the Sabbath-day. 2. Being diligent in reading the holy 
Scriptures. 3. Attending duly the public worship. 4. Par- 
taking of the Sacrament. 5. Paying a due respect to God's 
ministers. These might be all good things ; but, as they were 
not the kind of good things that I expected from that text, I 
despaired of ever meeting with them from any other, was dis- 
gusted, and attended his preaching no more. I had some 
years before composed a little Liturgy, or form of prayer, for 
my own private use (viz., in 1728), entitled "Articles of 
Belief and Acts of Eeligion." I returned to the use of this, 
and went no more to the public assemblies. My conduct 
might be blamable, but I leave it, without attempting further 
to excuse it; my present purpose being to relate facts, and 
not to make apologies for them. 

It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous 
project of arriving at moral perfection. I wished to live 
without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer 
all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might 
lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right 
and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one 
and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken 
a task of more difficulty than I had imagined. While my 
care was employed in guarding against one fault, I was often 
surprised by another; habit took the advantage of inatten- 
tion; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason. I 



114 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction 
that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not 
sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary 
habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and estab- 
lished, before we can have any dependence on a steady, 
uniform rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore 
contrived the following method. 

In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met 
with in my reading, I found the catalogue more or less 
numerous, as different writers included more or fewer ideas 
under the same name. Temperance, for example, was by 
some confined to eating and drinking, while by others it was 
extended to mean the moderating every other pleasure, ap- 
petite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to our 
avarice and ambition. I proposed to myself, for the sake of 
clearness, to use rather more names, with fewer ideas annexed 
to each, than a few names with more ideas; and I included 
under thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurred 
to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short 
precept, which fully expressed the extent I gave to its mean- 
ing. 

There names of virtues, with their precepts, were: 

1. Temperance. 
Eat not to dullness ; drink not to elevation. 

2. Silence. 

Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid 
trifling conversation. 

3. Order. 

Let all your things have their places ; let each part of your 
business have its time. 



the autobiography of benjamin franklin 115 

4. Eesolution. 
Eesolve to perforin what you ought; perform without fail 
what you resolve. 

5. Frugality. 

Make no exjDense but to do good to others or yourself ; i.e., 
waste nothing. 

6. Industry. 

Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; 
cut off all unnecessary actions. 

7. Sincerity. 

Use no hurtful deceit ; think innocently and justly ; and, if 
you speak, speak accordingly. 

8. Justice. 
Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that 
are your duty. 

9. Moderation. 
Avoid extremes ; forbear resenting injuries so much as you 
think they deserve. 

10. Cleanliness. 
Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation 

11. Tranquillity. 
Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or un- 
avoidable. 

12. Chastity. 

13. Humility. 
Imitate Jesus and Socrates. 

My intention being to acquire the liabitude of all these 



116 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

virtues, I judged it would be well not to distract my attention 
by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them 
at a time; and, when I should be master of that, then to 
proceed to another, and so on, till I should have gone through 
the thirteen; and, as the previous acquisition of some might 
facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arranged them 
with that view, as they stand above. Temperance first, as it 
tends to procure that coolness and clearness of head which is 
so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept up, and 
guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of an- 
cient habits, and the force of perpetual temptations. This be- 
ing acquired and established. Silence would be more easy ; and 
my desire being to gain knowledge at the same time that I 
improved in virtue, and considering that in conversation it 
was' obtained rather by the use of the ears than of the tongue, 
and therefore wishing to break a habit I was getting into of 
prattling, punning, and joking, which only made me accept- 
able to trifling company, I gave Silence the second place. 
This and the next Order, I expected would allow me more 
time for attending to my project and my studies. Resolution, 
once become habitual, would keep me firm in my endeavors 
to obtain all the subsequent virtues; Frugality and Industry 
freeing me from my remaining debt, and producing affluence 
and independence, would make more easy the practice of 
Sincerity and Justice, etc., etc. Conceiving then, that, agree- 
ably to the advice of Pythagoras '^ in his Golden Verses, daily 
examination would be necessary, I contrived the following 
method for conducting that examination. 

I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of 
the virtues. I ruled each page with red ink, so as to have 
seven columns, one for each day of the week, marking each 

"^ Pythagoras was a Greek philoso- referred to him, he seems to have 
pher of the 6th century, B. C. Al- been more of a moral teacher than a 
though many ideas and theories are speculative thinker. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 117 

column with a letter for the day. I crossed these columns 
with thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of each line 
with the first letter of one of the virtues, on which line, and 
in its proper column, I might mark, by a little black spot, 
every fault I found upon examination to have been com- 
mitted respecting that virtue upon that day. 

I determined to give a week's strict attention to each of the 
virtues successively. Thus, in the first week, my great guard 
was to avoid every the least offense against Temperance, leav- 
ing the other virtues to their ordinary chance, only marking 
every evening the faults of the day. Thus, if in the first 
w^eek I could keep my first line, marked T, clear of spots, I 
supposed the habit of that virtue so much strengthened, and 
its opposite weakened, that I might venture extending my 
attention to include the next, and for the following week keep 
both lines clear of spots. Proceeding thus to the last, I could 
go through a course complete in thirteen weeks, and four 
courses in a year. And like him who, having a garden to 
weed, does not attempt to eradicate all the bad herbs at once, 
which would exceed his reach and his strength, but works on 
one of the beds at a time, and, having accomplished the first, 
proceeds to a second, so I should have, I hoped, the encourag- 
ing pleasure of seeing on my pages the progress I made in 
virtue, by clearing successfully my lines of their spots, till in 
the end, by a number of courses, I should be happy in view- 
ing a clean book, after a thirteen weeks' daily examination. 

Thus my little book had for its motto these lines from Addi- 
son's Cato:^ 

" Here will I hold. If there's a power above us 
(And that there is, all nature cries aloud 
Through all her works ) , He must delight in virtue ; 
And that which He delights in must be happy." 

8 The play of ' ' Cato ' ' by Addison more noteworthy for its moral re- 
was written in 1713, and was for some flections and i s refined diction than 
time very popular. It was, however, for any pecuUaiiy dramatic qualities. 



118 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIN FRANKLIN 



Form of the Pages. 



TEMPEHANCE. 



EAT NOT TO DULLNESS; 
DRINK NOT TO ELEVATION. 





S. 


M. 


T. 


W. 


T. 


F. 


S. 




T. 


















S. 


* 


* 




* 




* 






0. 


*% 


* 


* 




* 


* 


* 




R. 






* 






* 






F. 




* 






* 








I. 






* 












S. 


















J. 


















M. 


















C. 


















T. 


















C. 


















H. 





































THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN" FRANKLIN 119 

Another from Cicero: 

" vitae Philosophia dux ! virtutum indagatrix expultrixque 
vitiorum! Unus dies, bene et ex praeceptis tuis actus, peecanti im- 
mortalitati est anteponendus." 9 

Another from the Proverbs of Solomon, speaking of wisdom 
or virtue : 

" Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches 
and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths 
are peace." iii. 16, 17. 

And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought 
it right and necessary to solicit His assistance for obtaining it ; 
to this end I formed the following little prayer, which was 
prefixed to my tables of examination, for daily use: 

".0 powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful Cruide! In- 
crease in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest. 
Strengthen my resolutions to perform what that wisdom dictates. 
Accept my kind offices to Thy other children as the only return in 
my poiver for thy continual favors to me." 

1 used also sometimes a little prayer which I took from 
Thomson's Poems,^ viz. : 

"Father of light and life, thou Good Supreme! 
O teach me what is good; teach me Thyself! 
Save me from folly, vanity, and vice, 

9 The passage is from the Tuscu- (11 217-222) the first part of the 

Ian Disputations, 5, 2, 5, and may poem to he published, separately in 

be thus translated: " O Philosophy, 1726: the complete poem did not ap- 

guide of life! O searcher out of pear until 1730. Thomson was a 

virtue, and expellor of vice, one day great favorite with Franklin. At a 

lived well and in accordance with later time (1744) he says, "I had 

thy precepts is to be preferred to an read no poetry for several years till 

immortality of evil! " I met with his ' Seasons.' That 

1 James Thomson, 1700-1748, is charming poem has brought more 

best known for his poem * ' The Sea- tears of pleasure into my eyes than 

sons," published about this time. all I ever read before." 
This prayer occurs in * ' Winter 



120 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJA]MIN FRANKLIN 



From every low pursuit; and fill my soul 

With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure; 

Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss ! " 

The precejDt of Order requiring that every part of my busi- 
ness should have its allotted time, one page in my little book 
contained the following scheme of employment for the twenty- 
four hours of a natural day : 



The Morning. 
Question. What good shall 
do this day? 



Noon. 



Evening. 
Question. What good have 
I done to-day? 



8 

9 

10 

11 

12 
1 

2 
3 
4 
5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 



Rise, wash, and address Pow- 
erful Goodness! Contrive day's 
business, and take the resolu- 
tion of the day; prosecute the 
present study, and breakfast. 



Work. 



Read, or overlook my ac- 
counts, and dine. 



Work. 



Put things in their places. 
Supper. Music or diversion, or 
conversation. Examination of 
the day. 



Night. 



2 Sleep. 

3 

4 



I entered upon the execution of this plan for self-examina- 
tion, and continued it with occasional intermissions for some 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 121 

time. I was surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults 
than I had imagined; but I had the satisfaction of seeing 
them diminish. To avoid the trouble of renewing now and 
then my little book^ which, by scraping out the marks on the 
paper of old faults to make room for new ones in a new course, 
became full of holes, I transferred my tables and precepts to 
the ivory leaves of a memorandum-book, on which the lines 
were drawn with red ink, that made a durable stain, and on 
those lines I marked my faults with a black-lead pencil, which 
marks I could easily wipe out with a wet sponge. After a 
while I went through one course only in a year, and after- 
ward only one in several years, till at length I omitted them 
entirely, being employed in voyages and business abroad, 
with a multiplicity of affairs that interfered; but I always 
carried my little book with me. 

My scheme of Order gave me the most trouble; and I 
found that, though it might be practicable where a man's 
business was such as to leave him the disposition of his time, 
that of a journeyman printer, for instance, it was not possi- 
ble to be exactly observed by a master, who must mix with 
the world, and often receive people of business at their own 
hours. Order, too, with regard to places for things, papers, 
etc., I found extremely difficult to acquire. I had not been 
early accustomed to it, and, having an exceeding good memory, 
I was not so sensible of the inconvenience attending want of 
method. This article, therefore, cost me so much painful 
attention, and my faults in it vexed me so much, and I 
made so little progress in amendment, and had such frequent 
relapses, that I was almost ready to give up the attempt, and 
content myself with a faulty character in that respect, like 
the man who, in buying an ax of a smith, my neighbor, de- 
sired to have the whole of its surface as bright as the edge. 
The smith consented to grind it bright for him if he would 
turn the wheel; he turned, while the smith pressed the bio.ul 



122 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

face of the ax hard and heavily on the stone, which made the 
turning it very fatiguing. The man came every now and 
then from the wheel to see how the work went on, and at 
length would take his ax as it was, without farther grinding. 
" No,^' said the smith, " turn on, turn on ; we shall have it 
bright by and by ! as yet, it is only speckled." " Yes," says 
the man, *'*' but I think I like a speckled ax test." And I 
believe this may have been the case with many, who, having, 
for want of some such means as I employed, found the diffi- 
culty of obtaining good and breaking bad habits in other 
points of vice and virtue, have given up the struggle, and 
concluded that '' a speckled ax was test; " for something, 
that pretended to be reason, was every now and then suggest- 
ing to me that such extreme nicety ^ as I exacted of myself 
might be a kind of foppery in morals, which, if it were known, 
would make me ridiculous ; that a perfect character might be 
attended with the inconvenience of being envied and hated; 
and that a benevolent man should allow a few faults in him- 
self to keep his friends in countenance. 

In truth, I found myself incorrigible, with respect to Order ; 
and now I am grown old, and my memory bad, I feel very 
sensibly the want of it. But, on the whole, though I never 
arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtain- 
ing, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavor, a 
better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if 
I had not attempted it; as those who aim at perfect writing 
by imitating the engraved copies, though they never reach the 
wished-for excellence of those copies, their hand is mended by 
the endeavor, and is tolerable while it continues fair and 
legible. 

It may be well my posterity should be informed that to this 
little artifice, with the blessing of God, their ancestor owed 
the constant felicity of his life, down to his seventy-ninth year, 

2 preciseness. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIX FRAXKLIX 123 

in which this is written. \Miat reverses may attend the re- 
mainder is in the hand of Providence ; but, if they arrive, the 
reflection on past happiness enjoyed ought to help his bearing 
them with more resignation. To Temperance he ascribes his 
long-continued health, and what is still left to him of a good 
constitution ; to Industry and Frugality, the early easiness of 
his circumstances and acquisition of his fortune, with all that 
knowledge that enabled him to be a useful citizen, and 
obtained for him some degree of reputation among tlie learned ; 
to Sincerity and Justice, the confidence of his country, and 
the honorable employs it conferred upon him; and to the 
joint influence of the whole mass of the virtues, even in the 
imperfect state he was able to acquire them, all that evenness 
of temper, and that cheerfulness in conversation, which 
makes his company still sought for, and agreeable even to his 
younger acquaintance. I hope, therefore, that some of my 
descendants may follow the example and reap the benefit. 

It will be remarked that, though my scheme was not wholly 
without religion, there was in it no mark of any of the dis- 
tinguishing tenets of any particular sect. I had purposely 
avoided them; for, being fully persuaded of the utility and 
excellency of my method, and that it might be serviceable to 
people in all religions, and intending some time or other to 
publish it, I would not have anything in it that should preju- 
dice anyone, of any sect, against it. I purposed writing a 
little comment on each virtue, in which I Avould have shown 
the advantages of possessing it, and the mischiefs attending 
its opposite vice ; and I should have called my book The Art 
OF Virtue, because it would have shown the means and man- 
ner of obtaining virtue, which would have distinguished it 
from the mere exhortation to be good, that does not instruct 
and indicate the means, but is like the apostle's man of verbal 
charity, who only without showing to the naked and hungry 



124 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMI2>r FRANKLIN 

how or where they might get clothes or yictuals, exhorted 
them to be fed and clothed. — James ii, 15, 16. 

But it so happened that my intention of writing and pub- 
lishing this comment was never fulfilled. I did, indeed, from 
time to time put down short hints of the sentiments, reason- 
ings, etc., to be made use of in it, some of which I have still 
by me ; but the necessary close attention to private business in 
the earlier part of my life, and public business since, have oc- 
casioned my postponing it ; for, it being connected in my mind 
with a great and extensive project, that required the whole 
man to execute, and which an unforeseen succession of em- 
ploys prevented my attending to, it has hitherto remained 
unfinished. 

In this piece it was my design to explain and enforce this 
doctrine, that vicious actions are not hurtful because they are 
forbidden, but forbidden because they are hurtful, the nature 
of man alone considered; that it was, therefore, everyone's 
interest to be virtuous who wished to be happy even in this 
world; and I should, from this circumstance (there being 
always in the world a number of rich merchants, nobility, 
states, and princes, who have need of honest instruments for 
the management of their affairs, and such being so rare), have 
endeavored to convince young persons that no qualities were 
so likely to make a poor man's fortune as those of probity and 
integrity. 

My list of virtues contained at first but twelve ; but a Quaker 
friend having kindly informed me that I was generally thought 
proud; that my pride showed itself frequently in conversation; 
that I was not content with being in the right when discuss- 
ing any point, but was overbearing, and rather insolent, of 
which he convinced me by mentioning several instances ; I de- 
termined endeavoring to cure myself, if I could, of this vice 
or folly among the rest, and I added Humility to my list, giv- 
ing an extensive meaning to the word. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRAXKLIX 125 

I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of 
this virtue, but I had a good deal with regard to the appear- 
ance of it. I made it a rule to forbear all direct contradiction 
to the sentiments of others, and all positive assertion of my 
own.^ I even forbid myself, agreeably to the old laws of our 
Junto, the use of every word or expression in the language 
that imported a fixed opinion, such as certainly, undoubtedly, 
etc., and I adopted, instead of them, I conceive, I apprehend, 
or / imagine a. thing to be so or so; or it so appears to me at 
present.^ When another asserted something that I thought an 
error, I denied myself the pleasure of contradicting him 
abruptly, and of showing immediately some absurdity in his 
proposition; and in answering I began by observing that in 
certain cases or circumstances his opinion would be right, but 
in the present case there appeared or seemed to me some dif- 
ference, etc. I soon found the advantage of this change in 
my manner; the conversations I engaged in went on more 
pleasantly. The modest way in which I proposed my opin- 
ions procured them a readier reception and less contradiction ; 
I had less mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, 
and I more easily prevailed with others to give up their mis- 
takes and join with me when I happened to be in the right. 

And this mode, which I at first put on with some violence 
to natural inclination, became at length so easy, and so habit- 
ual to me, that perhaps for these fifty years past no one has 
ever heard a dogmatical expression escape me. And to this 
habit (after my character of integrity) I think it principally 

' See p. 45 for the origin of this course should prevail, and he nat- 

habit. urally thought that his idea was 

* This principle seems to have been the truth and that the course he ad- 
based on another, possibly a more vised was the best. But he was 
fundamental ont in the character of willing to give others a chance to 
Franklin : namely the idea that every propound their ideas of truth and 
other man should have a chance as their plan of action. Then, as he 
well as himself. He was sincerely remarks, his idea and his course 
desirous that the truth and the best were generally found to prevail. 



126 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

owing that I had early so much weight with my fellow-citizens 
when I proposed new institutions, or alterations in the old, 
and so much influence in public councils when I became a 
member; for I was but a bad speaker, never eloquent, sub- 
ject to much hesitation in my choice of w^ords, hardly correct 
in language, and yet I generally carried my points. 

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions 
so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle Avith it, 
beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it 
is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show 
itself; you will see it, perhaps, often in this history; for, 
even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, 
I should probably be proud of my humility. 

I AM NOW ABOUT TO WRITE AT HOME, AUGUST, 1788, BUT CAN- 
NOT HAVE THE HELP EXPECTED FROM MY PAPERS, MANY OF 
THEM BEING LOST IN THE WAR. I HAVE, HOWEVER, FOUND 
THE FOLLOWING. 

Having mentioned a great and extensive project which I 
had conceived, it seems proper that some account should be 
here given of that project and its object. Its first rise in my 
mind appears in the following little paper, accidentally pre- 
served, viz. : 

Observations on my reading history, in Library, May 19th, 
1731. 

" That the great affairs of the world, the wars, revolutions, 
etc., are carried on and effected by parties. 

" That the view of these parties is their present general 
interest, or what they take to be such. 

^' That the different views of these different parties occasion 
all confusion. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEN J AMI J^ FRANKLIN 127 

" That while a party is carrying on a general design, each 
man has his particular private interest in view. 

" That as soon as a party has gained its general point, each 
member becomes intent upon his particular interest; which, 
thwarting others, breaks that party into divisions, and occa- 
sions more confusion. 

" That few in public affairs act from a mere view of the 
good of their country, whatever they may pretend; and, 
though their actings bring real good to their country, yet men 
primarily considered that their own and their country's inter- 
est was united, and did not act from a principle of benevo- 
lence. 

" That fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view to the 
good of mankind. 

" There seems to me at present to be great occasion for 
raising a United Party for Virtue, by forming the virtuous 
and good men of all nations into a regular body, to be gov- 
erned by suitable good and wise rules, which good and wise 
men may probably be more unanimous in their obedience to, 
than common people are to common laws. 

" I at present think that whoever attempts this aright, and 
is well qualified, cannot fail of pleasing God, and of meeting 
with success. B. F." 

Eevolving this project in my mind, as to be undertaken 
hereafter, when my circumstances should afford me the nec- 
essary leisure, I put down from time to time, on pieces of 
paper, such thoughts as occurred to me respecting it. Most 
of these are lost; but I find one purporting to be the sub- 
stance of an intended creed, containing, as I thought, the 
essentials of every known religion, and being free of every- 
thing that might shock the professors of any religion. It is 
expressed in these words, viz. : 



128 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

" That there is one God, who made all things. 

" That He governs the world by His providence. 

" That He ought to be worshiped by adoration, prayer, and 
thanksgiving. 

" But that the most acceptable service of God is doing good 
to man. 

" That the soul is immortal. 

" And that God will certainly reward virtue and punish 
vice, either here or hereafter." 

My ideas at that time were, that the sect should be begun 
and spread at first among young and single men only; that 
each person to be initiated should not only declare his assent 
to such creed, but should have exercised himself with the 
thirteen weeks' examination and practice of the virtues, as in 
the before-mentioned model; that the existence of such a 
society should be kept a secret, till it was become considerable, 
to prevent solicitations for the admission of improper persons, 
but that the members should each of them search among his 
acquaintance for ingenuous, well-disposed youths, to whom, 
with prudent caution, the scheme should be gradually com- 
municated; that the members should engage to afford their 
advice, assistance, and support to each other in promoting one 
another's interests, business, and advancement in life; that, 
for distinction, we should be called The Society of the Free 
and Easy: free, as being, by the general practice and habit of 
the virtues, free from the dominion of vice ; and particularly 
by the practice of industry and frugality, free from debt, 
which exposes a man to confinement, and a species of slavery 
to his creditors. 

This is as much as I can now recollect of the project, except 
that I communicated it in part to two young men, who 
adopted it with some enthusiasm; but my then narrow cir- 
cumstances, and the necessity I was under of sticking close to 
my business, occasioned my postponing the further prosecu- 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 129 

tion of it at that time; and my multifario-Qs occupations, 
public and private, induced me to continue postponing, so 
that it has been omitted till I have no longer strength or 
activity left sufficient for such an enterprise ; though I am still 
of opinion that it was a practicable scheme, and might have 
been very useful, by forming a great number of good citizens ; 
and I was not discouraged by the seeming magnitude of the 
undertaking, as I have always thought that one man of toler- 
able abilities may work great changes, and accomplish great 
affairs among mankind, if he first forms a good plan, and, 
cutting oif all amusements or other employments that would 
divert his attention, makes the execution of that same plan 
his sole study and business. 

In 1732 I first published my Almanac, under the name of 
Richard Saunders; it was continued by me about twenty-five 
years, commonly called Poor Richard's Almanac.^ I endeav- 
ored to make it both entertaining and useful, and it accord- 
ingly came to be in such demand, that I reaped considerable 
profit from it, vending annually near ten thousand. And 
observing that it was generally read, scarce any neighborhood 
in the province being without it, I considered it as a proper 
vehicle for conveying instructions among the common people, 

s It was by this most celebrated of Mr. Titan Leeds, who had published 
almanacs that Franklin first became an almanac for some years. But this 
most widely known. The almanac obstacle, he adds, will soon be re- 
was conceived with an imaginative moved, for it appears in the stars 
device which Franklin perhaps owed that Mr. Leeds will die Oct. 17, 1733. 
to his old favorite the Spectator, With much humor Poor Richard adds 
or perhaps the Tatler, namely the that Mr. Leeds himself is of the 
invention of a person who was sup- opinion that he will survive till Oct. 
posed to make up the almanac. It 26. Thus arose a controversy, for 
was put forward by Richard Saun- Leeds, who was a real person, denied 
ders, Philomath. Richard says that that he was dead. Poor Richard, in 
his wife has long objected to his ab- the next almanac, insisted and thus 
struse studies, and has desired that a public interest arose and Poor 
he would make them profitable. He Richard's Almanac became popular 
says that he should have done this and sold at a rate that for that day 
long before, but that he did not like was enormous. 
to hurt the interest of his friend, 



130 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

who bought scarcely any other books; I therefore filled all 
the little spaces that occurred between the remarkable days in 
the calendar with proverbial sentences, chiefly such as incul- 
cated industry and frugality, as the means of procuring 
wealth, and thereby securing virtue; it being more difficult 
for a man in want to act always honestly,^ as, to use here one 
of those proverbs, it is hard for an empty sack to stand up- 
right. 

These proverbs, which contained the wisdom of many ages 
and nations, I assembled and formed into a connected dis- 
course prefixed to the Almanac of 1757, as the harangue of a 
wise old man to the people attending an auction. The bring- 
ing all these scattered counsels thus into a focus enabled them 
to make greater impression. The piece, being universally 
approved, was copied in all the newspapers of the Continent ; '' 
reprinted in Britain on a broadside, to be stuck up in houses ; 
two translations were made of it in French, and great numbers 
bought by the clergy and gentry, to distribute gratis among 
their poor parishioners and tenants. In Pennsylvania, as it 
discouraged useless expense in foreign superfluities, some 
thought it had its share of influence in producing that grow- 
ing plenty of money which was observable for several years 
after its publication. 

I considered my newspaper, also, as another means of com- 
municating instruction, and in that view frequently reprinted 
in it extracts from the Spectator, and other moral writers; 
and sometimes published little pieces of my own, which had 
been first composed for reading in our Junto. Of these are a 

" Franklin here shows the same the practice of virtue will bring 

broadmindedness that he did in re- wealth: but also that the possession 

gard to moral commandments. In of wealth makes the practice of virtue 

this case he saw finally that though easier. 

not right merely because they had ^ The Colonies were often called 

been commanded, they had been " the Continent " as being different 

doubtless commanded because they from the West India Islands, 
were right. So now he believes that 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIX 131 

Socratic dialogue, tending to prove that, whatever might be 
his parts and abilities^ a vicious man could not properly be 
called a man of sense ; and a discourse on self-denial, showing 
that virtue was not secure till its practice became a habitude, 
and was free from the opposition of contrary inclinations. 
These may be found in the papers about the beginning of 
1735. 

In the conduct of my newspaper, I carefully excluded all 
libeling and personal abuse, which is of late years become so 
disgraceful to our country. Whenever I was solicited to insert 
anything of that kind, and the writers pleaded, as they gen- 
erally did, the liberty of the press, and that a newspaper was 
like a stage-coach, in which anyone who would pay had a 
right to a place, my answer was, that I would print the piece 
separately if desired, and the author might have as many 
copies as he pleased to distribute himself, but that I would 
not take upon me to spread his detraction ; and that, having 
contracted with my subscribers to furnish them with what 
might be either useful or entertaining, I could not fill their 
papers with private altercation, in which they had no concern, 
without doing them manifest injustice. Now, many of our' 
printers make no scruple of gratifying the malice of individ' 
uals by false accusations of the fairest characters among our- 
selves, augmenting animosity even to the producing of duels; 
and are, moreover, so indiscreet as to print scurrilous reflec- 
tions on the government of neighboring states, and even on 
the conduct of our best national allies, which may be attended 
with the most pernicious consequences. These things I men- 
tion as a caution to young printers, and that they may be 
encouraged not to pollute their presses and disgrace their 
profession by such infamous practices, but refuse steadily, as 
they may see by my example that such a course of conduct 
will not, on the whole, be injurious to their interests. 

In 1733 I sent one of my journeymen to Charleston, South 



132 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

Carolina, where a printer was wanting. I furnished him with 
a press and letters, on an agreement of partnership, by which 
I was to receive one third of the profits of the business, paying 
one third of the expense. He was a man of learning, and 
honest but ignorant in matters of account; and, though he 
sometimes made me remittances, I could get no account from 
him, nor any satisfactory state ^ of our partnership while he 
lived. On his decease, the business was continued by his 
widow, who, being born and bred in Holland, where, as I have 
been informed, the knowledge of accounts makes a part of 
female education, she not only sent me as clear a state as she 
could find of the transactions past, but continued to account 
with the greatest regularity and exactness every quarter after- 
wards, and managed the business with such success, that she 
not only brought up reputably a family of children, but, at 
the expiration of the term, was able to purchase of me the 
printing-house, and establish her son in it. 

I mention this affair chiefly for the sake of recommending 
that branch of education for our young females, as likely to 
be of more use to them and their children, in case of widow- 
hood, than either music or dancing, by preserving them from 
losses by imposition of crafty men, and enabling them to con- 
tinue, perhaps, a profitable mercantile house, with established 
correspondence, till a son is grown up fit to undertake and 
go on with it, to the lasting advantage and enriching of the 
family. 

About the year 1734 there arrived among us from Ireland a 
young Presbyterian preacher, named Hemphill, who delivered 
with a good voice, and apparently extempore, most excellent 
discourses, which drew together considerable numbers of dif- 
ferent persuasions, who joined in admiring them. Among 
the rest, I became one of his constant hearers, his sermons 
pleasing me, as they had little of the dogmatical kind, but in- 

^ or statement. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIX FRAXKLIX 133 

culcated strongly the practice of virtue, or what in the reli- 
gious style are called good works. Those, however, of our 
congregation who considered themselves as orthodox Presby- 
terians disapproved his doctrine/ and were joined by most of 
the old clergy, who arraigned him of heterodoxy before the 
synod, in order to have him silenced. I became his zealous 
partisan, and contributed all I could to raise a party in his 
favor, and we combated for him awhile with some hopes of 
success. There was much scribbling pro and con upon the 
occasion ; and finding that, though an elegant preacher, he was 
but a poor writer, I lent him my pen and wrote for him two or 
three pamphlets, and one piece in the Gazette of April, 1735. 
Those pamphlets, as is generally the case with controversial 
writings, though eagerly read at the time, were soon out of 
vogue, and I question whether a single copy of them now 
exists. 

During the contest an unlucky occurrence hurt his cause 
exceedingly. One of our adversaries having heard him preach 
a sermon that was much admired, thought he had somewhere 
read the sermon before, or at least a part of it. On search, he 
found that part quoted at length, in one of the British Ee- 
views, from a discourse of Dr. Foster's. This detection gave 
many of our party disgust, who accordingly abandoned his 
cause, and occasioned our more speedy discomfiture in the 
synod. I stuck by him, however, as I rather approved his 
giving us good sermons composed by others, than bad ones of 
his own manufacture, though the latter was the practice of 
common teachers. He afterward acknowledged to me that 
none of those he preached were his own; adding, that his 
memory was such as enabled him to retain and repeat any 
sermon after one reading only. On our defeat, he left us in 

•The only reason for disapproving The importance of both elements in 

a doctrine which made much of good a good life was strongly felt by the 

works, was the fear that it would en- Apostle Jamfis. 
danger the fundamentals of faith. 



134 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

search elsewhere of better fortune, and I quitted the congre- 
gation, never joining it after, though I continued many years 
my subscription for the support of its ministers. 

I had begun in 1733 to study languages; I soon made my- 
self so much a master of the French as to be able to read the 
books with ease. I then undertook the Italian. An acquaint- 
ance, who was also learning it, used often to tempt me to 
play chess with him. Finding this took up too much of the 
time I had to spare for study, I at length refused to play any 
more, unless on this condition, that the victor in every game 
should have a right to impose a task, either in parts of the 
grammar to be got by heart, or in translations, etc., which 
tasks the vanquished was to perform on honor, before our 
next meeting. As we played pretty equally, w^e thus beat one 
another into that language. I afterwards with a little pains- 
taking acquired as much of the Spanish as to read their books 
also. 

I have already mentioned that I had only one year's instruc- 
tion in a Latin school,^ and that when very young, after which 
I neglected that language entirely. But, w^hen I had attained 
an acquaintance with the French, Italian, and Spanish, I was 
surprised to find, on looking over a Latin Testament, that I 
understood so much more of that language than I had imag- 
ined, which encouraged me to apply myself again to the study 
of it, and I met with more success, as those preceding lan- 
guages had greatly smoothed my way. 

From these circumstances, I have thought that there is some 
inconsistency in our common mode of teaching languages. 
We are told that it is proper to begin first with the Latin, and, 
having acquired that, it will be more easy to attain those mod- 
ern languages which are derived from it; and yet we do not 
begin with the Greek, in order more easily to acquire the 
Latin. It is true that, if you can clamber and get to the top 

^ See p. 33 where it is caUed a grammar-school. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRAXKLIN 135 

of a staircase without using the steps, you will more easily 
gain them in descending; but, certainly, if you begin with 
the lowest you will with more ease ascend to the top; and I 
would therefore offer it to the consideration of those w^ho su- 
perintend the education of our youth, whether, since many of 
those who begin with the Latin quit the same after spending 
some years without having made any great proficiency, and 
what they have learned becomes almost useless, so that their 
time has been lost, it would not have been better to have 
begun with the French, proceeding to the Italian, etc.; for, 
though, after spending the same time, they should quit the 
study of languages and never arrive at the Latin, they would, 
however, have acquired another tongue or two, that, being 
in modern use, might be serviceable to them in common 
life.- 

After ten years' absence from Boston, and having become 
easy in my circumstances, I made a journey thither to visit 
my relations, which I could not sooner well afford. In re- 
turning, I called at Newport to see my brother, then settled 
there with his printing-house. Our former differences were 
forgotten, and our meeting was very cordial and affectionate. 
He was fast declining in his health, and requested of me that, 
in case of his death, which he apprehended not far distant, I 
would take home his son, then but ten years of age, and bring 
him up to the printing business. This I accordingly per- 
formed, sending him a few years to school before I took him 
into the office. His mother carried on the business till he was 
grown up, when I assisted him with an assortment of new 
types, those of his father being in a manner worn out. Thus 

- Thus early was Franklin led by by many, however, that the constant 

practical experience to an opinion study of so systematic a means of 

which is to-day put forward by many. expression as the Latin language 

There is no doubt that many who gives the mind an admirable power of 

study Latin two or three years, or analysis that may be used for all 

even more, retain a very slight knowl- sorts of purposes, 
edge of the language. It is believed 



136 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

it was that I made my brother ample amends for the service I 
had deprived him of by leaving him so early. 

In 1T36 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four j^ears old, 
by the small-pox, taken in the common way. I long regretted 
bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it to him by in- 
oculation.^ This I mention for the sake of parents who omit 
that operation, on the supposition that they should never for- 
give themselves if a child died under it; my example show- 
ing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, 
therefore, the safer should be chosen. 

Our club, the Junto, was found so useful, and afforded 
such satisfaction to the members, that several were desirous 
of introducing their friends, which could not well be done 
without exceeding what we had settled as a convenient num- 
ber, viz., twelve. We had from the beginning made it a rule 
to keep our institution a secret, which was pretty well ob- 
served; the intention was to avoid applications of improper 
persons for admittance, some of whom, perhaps, we might 
find it difficult to refuse. I was one of those who were against 
any addition to our number, but, instead of it, made in writ- 
ing a proposal, that every member separately should endeavor 
to form a subordinate club, with the same rules respecting 
queries, etc., and without informing them of the connection 
with the Junto. The advantages proposed were, the improve- 
ment of so many more young citizens by the use of our insti- 
tutions; our better acquaintance with the general sentiments 
of the inhabitants on any occasion, as the Junto member 
might propose what queries we should desire, and was to 
report to the Junto what passed in his separate club ; the pro- 
motion of our particular interests in business by more exten- 
sive recommendation, and the increase of our influence in 
public affairs, and our power of doing good by spreading 
through the several clubs the sentiments of the Junto. 

3 Inoculation for small-pox (essentially the same means as vaccination) 
was introduced into England in 1721. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPPIY OF BEXJAMIN FRANKLIN 137 

The project was approved, and every member undertook to 
form his club, but they did not all succeed. Five or six only 
were completed, which were called by different names, as the 
Vine, the Union, the Band, etc. They were useful to them- 
selves, and afforded us a good deal of amusement, informa- 
tion, and instruction, besides answering, in some considerable 
degree, our views of influencing the public opinion on partic- 
ular occasions, of which I shall give some instances in course 
of time as they happened. 

My first promotion was my being chosen, in 1736, clerk of 
the General Assembly. The choice was made that year with- 
out opposition ; but the year following, when I was again pro- 
posed (the choice, like that of the members, being annual), a 
new member made a long speech against me, in order to favor 
some other candidate. I was, however, chosen, which was 
the more agreeable to me, as, besides the pay for the imme- 
diate service as clerk, the place gave me a better Opportunity 
of keeping up an interest among the members, which secured 
to me the business of printing the votes, laws, paper money, 
and other occasional jobs for the public, that, on the whole, 
were very profitable. 

I therefore did not like the opposition of this new member, 
who was a gentleman of fortune and education, with talents 
that were likely to give him, in time, great influence in the 
House, which, indeed, aftersvards happened. I did not, how- 
ever, aim at gaining his favor by paying any servile respect 
to him, but, after some time, took this other method.* Hav- 
ing heard that he had in his library a certain very scarce and 
curious book, I wrote a note to him, expressing my desire of 
perusing that book, and requesting he would do me the favor 

* This is one of the rather crafty this gentleman's interest. It may 

practices which skim very near the well have been because he was able 

edge of insincerity. It may be to meet with him on the commou 

doubted whether Franklin really dis- ground of intellectual interest and a 

cerned the true cause of his gaining better personal knowledge. 



138 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

of lending it to me for a few days. He sent it immediately, 
and I returned it in about a week with another note, express- 
ing strongly my sense of the favor. When we next met in the 
House, he spoke to me (which he had never done before), and 
with great civility; and he ever after manifested a readiness 
to serve me on all occasions, so that we became great friends, 
and our friendship continued to his death. This is another 
instance of the truth of an old maxim I had learned, which 
says : " He that has once done you a Tcindness will he more 
ready to do you another, than he ivhom you yourself have 
obliged" And it shows how much more profitable it is pru- 
dently to remove, than to resent, return, and continue inimi- 
cal proceedings. 

In 1737, Colonel Spotswood, late governor of Virginia, and 
then Postmaster-General, being dissatisfied with the conduct 
of his deputy at Philadelphia, respecting some negligence in 
rendering, and inexactitude of his accounts, took from him 
the commission and offered it to me.^ I accepted it readily, 
and found it of great advantage; for, though the salary was 
small, it facilitated the correspondence that improved my 
newspaper, increased the number demanded, as well as the 
advertisements to be inserted, so that it came to afford me a 
considerable income. My old competitor's newspaper declined 
proportionately, and I was satisfied without retaliating his re- 
fusal, while postmaster, to permit my papers being carried by 
the riders. Thus he suffered greatly from his neglect in due 
accounting; and I mention it as a lesson to those young men 
who may be employed in managing affairs for others, that 
they should always render accounts, and make remittances, 
with great clearness and punctuality. The character of ob- 

5 The position of Postmaster, as matters, and therefore improved the 

well as that of Clerk of the Assam- position as well as the content of his 

bly, naturally put him into the posi- newspaper, 
tion of one well-informed in public 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMI:N^ FRAXKLIX 139 

serving such a conduct is the most powerful of all recommen- 
dations to new employments and increase of business. 

I began now to turn my thoughts a little to public affairs, 
beginning, however, with small matters. The city watch ^ was 
one of the first things that I conceived to want regulation. It 
was managed by the constables of the respective wards in 
turn; the constable warned a number of housekeepers to 
attend him for the night. Those who chose never to attend, 
paid him six shillings a 3^ear to be excused, which was supposed 
to be for hiring substitutes, but was, in reality, much more 
than was necessary for that purpose, and made the constable- 
ship a place of profit; and the constable, for a little drink, 
often got such ragamuffins about him as a watch, that re- 
spectable housekeepers did not choose to mix with. Walking 
the rounds, too, was often neglected, and most of the nights 
spent in tippling. I thereupon wrote a paper to be read in 
Junto, representing these irregularities, but insisting more 
particularly on the inequality of this six-shilling tax of the 
constables, respecting the circumstances of those who paid it, 
since a poor widow housekeeper, all whose property to be 
guarded by the watch did not perhaps exceed the value of 
fifty pounds, paid as much as the wealthiest merchant, who 
had thousands of pounds' worth of goods in his stores. 

On the whole, I proposed as a more effectual watch, the 
hiring of proper men to serve constantly in that business; 
and as a more equitable way of supporting the charge, the 
levying a tax that should be proportioned to the property. 
This idea, being approved by the Junto, was communicated to 
the other clubs, but as arising in each of them; and though 
the plan was not immediately carried into execution, yet, by 
preparing the minds of people for the change, it paved the 

''The city watch was the fore-run- until 1828, the date of the establish- 
ner of the modern police department ment of the London police force, 
which did not come into existence 



140 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

way for the law obtained a few years after, when the members 
of our clubs were grown into more influence. 

About this time I wrote a paper (first to be read in Junto, 
but it was afterward published) on the different accidents and 
carelessnesses by which houses were set on fire, with cautions 
against them, and means proposed of avoiding them.'' This 
was much spoken of as a useful piece, and gave rise to a 
project, which soon followed it, of forming a company for the 
more ready extinguishing of fires, and mutual assistance in 
removing and securing of goods when in danger. Associates 
in this scheme were presently found, amounting to thirty. 
Our articles of agreement obliged every member to keep 
always in good order, and fit for use, a certain number of 
leather buckets, with strong bags and baskets (for packing 
and transporting of goods), which were to be brought to every 
fire ; and we agreed to meet once a month and spend a social 
evening together, in discoursing and communicating such 
ideas as occurred to us upon the subject of fires, as might 
be useful in our conduct on such occasions. 

The utility of this institution soon appeared, and many more 
desiring to be admitted than we thought convenient for one 
company, they were advised to form another, which was ac- 
cordingly done; and this went on, one new company being 
formed after another, till they became so numerous as to in- 
clude most of the inhabitants who were men of property ; and 
now, at the time of my writing this, though upward of fifty 
years since its establishment, that which I first formed, called 
the Union Fire Company, still subsists and flourishes though 
the first members are all deceased but myself and one, who is 
older by a year than I am. The small fines that have been 

^ As Franklin's previous proposi- hand, preceded the use of hose with 

tion preceded the modern police de- hand pumps, which preceded the fire- 

partment, so the present preceded the engine and high-pressure methods of 

modem fire department. The use of to-day. 
leather buckets, passed from hand to 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 141 

paid by members for absence at the monthly meetings have 
been applied to the purchase of fire-engines, ladders, fire- 
hooks, and other useful implements for each company, so that 
I question whether there is a city in the world better provided 
with the means of putting a stop to beginning conflagrations ; 
and, in fact, since these institutions, the city has never lost by 
fire more than one or two houses at a time, and the flames 
have often been extinguished before the house in which they 
began has been half consumed. 

In 1739 arrived among us from Ireland the Eeverend Mr. 
Whitefield,^ who had made himself remarkable there as an itin- 
erant preacher. He was at first permitted to preach in some 
of our churches ; but the clergy, taking a dislike to him, soon 
refused him their pulpits, and he was obliged to preach in the 
fields. The multitudes of all sects and denominations that 
attended his sermons were enormous, and it was matter of 
speculation to me, who was one of the number, to observe the 
extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers, and how 
much they admired and respected him, notwithstanding his 
common abuse of them, by assuring them they were naturally 
half leasts and half devils. It was wonderful to see the 
change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From 
being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as 
if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not 
walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms 
sung in different families of every street. 

And it being found inconvenient to assemble in the open 
air,^ subject to its inclemencies, the building of a house to 
meet in was no sooner proposed, and persons appointed to 
receive contributions, but sufficient sums were soon received 

* George Whitefield, 1714-1770, rated by disagreeing upon some Cal- 

was one of the founders of Meth- vinist views held by Whitefield. 
odism. He was more famous for his ^ Wesley himself always preferred 

eloquence in preaching than John to preach in the fields, for so was he 

Wesley himself, from whom he sepa- able to meet with greater numbers. 



142 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

to procure the ground and erect the building, which was one 
hundred feet long and seventy b-road, about the size of West- 
minster Hall; and the work was carried on with such spirit 
as to be finished in a much shorter time than could have been 
expected. Both house and ground were vested in trustees, 
expressly for the use of any preacher of any religious persua- 
sion who might desire to say something to the people of Phila- 
delphia; the design in building not being to accommodate 
any particular sect, but the inhabitants in general; so that 
even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary 
to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at 
his service. 

Mr. \Vhitefield, in leaving us, went preaching all the way 
through the colonies to Georgia. The settlement of that 
province had lately been begun, but, instead of being made 
with hardy, industrious husbandmen, accustomed to labor, 
the only people fit for such an enterprise, it was with families 
of broken shop-keepers and other insolvent debtors, many of 
indolent and idle habits, taken out of the jails, who, being set 
down in the woods, unqualified for clearing lands, and unable 
to endure the hardships of a new settlement, perished in num- 
bers, leaving many helpless children unprovided for. The 
sight of their miserable situation inspired the benevolent 
heart of Mr. Whitefield with the idea of building an Orphan 
House there, in which they might be supported and educated. 
Eeturning northward, he preached up this charity, and made 
large collections, for his eloquence had a wonderful power 
over the hearts and purses of his hearers, of which I mysejf 
was an instance. 

I did not disapprove of the design, but, as Georgia was then 
destitute of materials and workmen, and it was proposed to 
send them- from Philadelphia at a great expense, I thought it 
would have been better to have built the house here, and 
brought the children to it. This I advised; but he was reso- 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 143 

lute in his first project, rejected my counsel, and I therefore 
refused to contribute. I happened soon after to attend one of 
his sermons, in the course of which I perceived he intended to 
finish with a collection, and I silently resolved he should get 
nothing from me. I had in my pocket a handful of copper 
money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold. 
As he proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give the 
coppers. Another stroke of his oratory made me ashamed of 
that, and determined me to give the silver ; and he finished so 
admirably, that I emptied my pockets wholly into the col- 
lector's dish, gold and all. At this sermon there was also one 
of our club, who, being of my sentiments respecting the build- 
ing in Georgia, and suspecting a collection might be intended, 
had, by precaution, emptied his pockets before he came from 
home. Towards the conclusion of the discourse, however, he 
felt a strong desire to give, and applied to a neighbor, who 
stood near him, to borrow some money for the purpose. The 
application was unfortunately [made] to perhaps the only 
man in the company who had the firmness not to be affected 
by the preacher. His answer was: ''At any other time. 
Friend Hophinson, I would lend to thee freely; hut not now, 
for thee seems to he out of thy right senses/' 

Some of Mr. Whitefield's enemies affected to suppose that 
he would apply these collections to his own private emolu- 
ment; but I, who was intimately acquainted with him (being 
employed in printing his Sermons ^ and Journals, etc. ) , never 
had the least suspicion of his integrity, but am to this day 
decidedly of opinion that he was in all his conduct a perfectly 
honest man; and methinks my testimony in his favor ought 
to have the more weight, as we had no religious connection. 
He used, indeed, sometimes to pray for my conversion, but he 
never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were 

^ He published a number of sermons which are said to give a very slight 
idea of his actual power. 



144 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

heard. Ours was a mere civil friendship, sincere on both 
sides, and lasted to his death. 

The following instances will show something of the terms 
on which we stood. Upon one of his arrivals from England 
at Boston, he wrote to me that he should come soon to Phila- 
delphia, but knew not where he could lodge when there, as he 
understood his old friend and host, Mr. Benezet, was removed 
to Germantown. My answer was: "You know my house; 
if you can make shift with its scanty accommodations, you 
will be most heartily welcome." He replied, that if I made 
that kind offer for Christ's sake, I should not miss of a re- 
ward. And I returned: "Don't let me he mistaken; it was 
not for Christ's sake, hut for your sake." One of our 
common acquaintance jocosely remarked, that, knowing it to 
be the custom of the saints, when they received any favor, to 
shift the burden of the obligation from off their own shoul- 
ders, and place it in heaven, I had contrived to fix it on earth. 

The last time I saw Mr. White field was in London, where he 
consulted me about his Orphan House concern, and his pur- 
pose of appropriating it to the establishment of a college.^ 

He had a loud and clear voice, and articulated his words 
and sentences so perfectly, that he might be heard and under- 
stood at a great distance, especially as his auditories, however 
numerous, observed the most exact silence. He preached one 
evening from the top of the Court-house steps, which are in 
the middle of Market Street, and on the west side of Second 
Street, which crosses it at right angles. Both streets were 
filled with his hearers to a considerable distance. Being 
among the hindmost in Market Street, I had the curiosity to 
learn how far he could be heard, by retiring backwards down 
the street towards the river; and I found his voice distinct 
till I came near Front Street, when some noise in that street 

2 The Orphan House was changed to Bethesda College, but was burned 
down a few years afterwards. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 145 

obscured it. Imagining then a semicircle, of which my dis- 
tance should be the radius, and that it were filled with audi- 
tors, to each of whom I allowed two square feet, I computed 
that he might well be heard by more than thirty thousand. 
This reconciled me to the newspaper accounts of his having 
preached to twenty-five thousand people in the fields, and to 
the ancient histories of generals haranguing whole armies, of 
which I had sometimes doubted. 

By hearing him often, I came to distinguish easily between 
sermons newly composed, and those which he had often 
preached in the course of his travels. His delivery of the 
latter was so improved by frequent repetitions that every 
accent, every emphasis, every modulation of voice, was so 
perfectly well turned and well placed, that, without being in- 
terested in the subject, one could not help being pleased with 
the discourse; a pleasure of much the same kind with that 
received from an excellent piece of music. This is an advan- 
tage itinerant preachers have over those who are stationary, 
as the latter cannot well improve their delivery of a sermon 
by so many rehearsals. 

His writing and printing from time to time gave great ad- 
vantage to his enemies; unguarded expressions, and even 
erroneous opinions, delivered in preaching, might have been 
afterwards explained or qualified by supposing others that 
might have accompanied them, or they might have been 
denied; but litera scripta manet.^ Critics attacked his writ- 
ings violently, and with so much appearance of reason as to 
diminish the number of his votaries and prevent their in- 
crease; so that I am of opinion if he had never written any- 
thing, he would have left behind him a much more numerous 
and important sect, and his reputation might in that case have 
been still growing, even after his death, as there being nothing 
of his writing on which to found a censure and give him a 

3 what is written remains. 



146 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

lower character, his proselytes would be left at liberty to feign 
for him as great a variety of excellences as their enthusiastic 
admiration might wish him to have possessed. 

My business was now continually augmenting/ and my cir- 
cumstances growing daily easier, my newspaper having be- 
come very, profitable, as being for a time almost the only one 
in this and the neighboring provinces. I experienced, too, the 
truth of the observation, " that after getting the first hun- 
dred pound, it is more easy to get the second/' money itself 
being of a prolific nature. 

The partnership at Carolina having succeeded, I was en- 
couraged to engage in others, and to promote several of my 
workmen, who had behaved well, by establishing them with 
printing-houses in different colonies, on the same terms as 
that in Carolina. Most of them did well, being enabled at 
the end of our term, six years, to purchase the types of me 
and go on working for themselves, by which means several 
families were raised. Partnerships often finish in quarrels; 
but I was happy in this, that mine were all carried on and 
ended amicably, owing, I think, a good deal to the precaution 
of having very explicitly settled, in our articles, everything 
to be done by or expected from each partner, so that there 
was nothing to dispute, which precaution I would therefore 
recommend to all who enter into partnership ; for, whatever 
esteem partners may have for, and confidence in each other 
at the time of the contract, little jealousies and disgusts may 
arise, with ideas of inequality in the care and burden of the 
business, etc., which are attended often with breach of friend- 
ship and of the connection, perhaps with lawsuits and other 
disagreeable consequences. 

I had, on the whole, abundant reason to be satisfied with 

* He had already at this time the Almanac, the position as Clerk of 

printing-house and stationer's shop, the Assembly, and that of Post- 

the printing-house in Carolina, the master. 
Pennsylvania Gazette, Poor Richard's 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BE:N^JAMIN^ FRAXKLIX 147 

my being established in Pennsylvania. There were, however, 
two things which I regretted, there being no provision for 
defense, nor for a complete education of youth; no militia, 
nor any college. I therefore, in 1743, drew up a proposal for 
establishing an academy; and at that time, thinking the 
Eeverend Mr. Peters, who was out of employ, a fit person to 
superintend such an institution, I communicated the project 
to him ; but he, having more profitable views in the service of 
the proprietaries, which succeeded, declined the undertaking; 
and, not knowing another at that time suitable for such a 
trust, I let the scheme lie a while dormant. I succeeded bet- 
ter the next year, 1744, in proposing and establishing a Philo- 
sophical Society.^ The paper I wrote for that purpose will 
be found among my writings, when collected. 

With respect to defense, Spain having been several years at 
war against Great Britain, and being at length joined by 
France, which brought us into great danger; and the labored 
and long-continued endeavor of our governor, Thomas, to 
prevail with our Quaker Assembly to pass a militia law, and 
make other provisions for the security of the province, having 
proved abortive, I determined to try what might be done by 
a voluntary association of the people.*^ To promote this, -I 
first wrote and published a pamphlet, entitled Plaix Truth, 
in which I stated our defenseless situation in strong lights, 
with the necessity of union and discipline for our defense, 
and promised to propose in a few days an association, to be 

^ The American Philosophical So- for its prosperity, although at this 
ciety remains to the present day: time not more than half its inhabi- 
the word "philosophical'' meaning tants were Quakers. The Quakers 
as before (p. 94, note), much the were on principle opposed to war- 
same thing "scientific" does now. fare and would therefore take no 

^ Pennsylvania had been settled steps in the direction that Franklin 

chiefly by Quakers, of whom the first thought of importance. It should be 

Proprietor, William Penn was one. remembered in reading of the agita- 

The character of peace, justice, and tion, that the proportion of Quakers 

tolerance, which he had impressed in Philadelphia was rather smaller 

upon the settlement had done much than in the state at large.* 



148 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

generally signed for that purpose. The pamphlet had a sud- 
den and surprising effect. I was called upon for the instru- 
ment of association, and having settled the draft of it with a 
few friends, I appointed a meeting of the citizens in the large 
building before mentioned. The house was pretty full ; I had 
prepared a number of printed copies, and provided pens and 
ink dispersed all over the room. I harangued them a little 
on the subject, read the paper, and explained it, and then dis- 
tributed the copies, which were eagerly signed, not the least 
objection being made. 

\Mien the company separated, and the papers were col- 
lected, we found above twelve hundred hands; and, other 
copies being dispersed in the country, the subscribers 
amounted at length to upward of ten thousand. These all 
furnished themselves as soon as they could with arms, formed 
themselves into companies and regiments, chose their own 
officers, and met every week to be instructed in the manual 
exercise, and other parts of military discipline. The women, 
by subscriptions among themselves, provided silk colors, 
which they presented to the companies, painted with different 
devices and mottoes, which I supplied. 

The officers of the companies composing the Philadelphia 
regiment, being met, chose me for their colonel ; but, conceiv- 
ing myself unfit, I declined that station, and recommended 
Mr. Lawrence, a fine person, and man of influence, who was 
accordingly appointed. I then proposed a lottery ^ to defray 
the expense of building a battery below the town, and fur- 
nishing it with cannon. It filled expeditiously, and the 
battery was soon erected, the merlons ^ being framed of logs 

^ This method of raising money, means of getting funds for public 

though now so universally disap- purposes. 

proved in this country that it is ^ The part of a wall that comes 

everywhere forbidden by law, was in between the embrasures or places cut 

the 18th century a very common down for guns or other purposes. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIK FRANKLIX 149 

and filled with earth. We bought some old cannon from 
Boston, but, these not being sufficient, we wrote to England 
for more, soliciting, at the same time, our proprietaries ^ for 
some assistance, though without much expectation of obtain- 
ing it. 

Meanwhile, Colonel Lawrence, William Allen, Abram Tay- 
lor, Esq., and myself were sent to New York by the associ- 
ators, commissioned to borrow some cannon of Governor 
Clinton. He at first refused us peremptorily; but at dinner 
with his council, where there was great drinking of Madeira 
wine, as the custom of that place then was, he softened by 
degrees, and said he would lend us six. After a few more 
bumpers he advanced to ten; and at length he very good- 
naturedly conceded eighteen. They were fine cannon, eight- 
een-pounders, with their carriages, which we soon transported 
and mounted on our battery, where the associators kept a 
nightly guard while the war lasted, and among the rest I 
regularly took my turn of duty there as a common soldier. 

My activity in these operations was agreeable to the gov- 
ernor and council; they took me into confidence, and I was 
consulted by them in every measure wherein their concurrence 
was thought useful to the association. Calling in the aid of 
religion, I proposed to them the proclaiming a fast, to pro- 
mote reformation, and implore the blessing of Heaven on our 
undertaking. They embraced the motion; but, as it was the 
first fast ever thought of in the province, the secretary had no 
precedent from which to draw the proclamation. My educa- 
tion in New England, where a fast is proclaimed every year, 
was here of some advantage: I drew it in the accustomed 
style, it was translated into German,^ printed in both lan- 

^ who lived in England. parts of the state what is still called 

1 Much of Pennsylvania had been ' ' Pennsylvania Dutch " is a common 
settled by the Germans. In many dialect. 



150 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

guages, and divulged through the province. This gave the 
clergy of the different sects an opportunity of influencing 
their congregations to join in the association, and it would 
probably have been general among all but Quakers if the 
peace had not soon intervened. 

It was thought by some of my friends that, by my activity 
in these affairs, I should offend that sect, and thereby lose 
my interest in the Assembly of the province, where they 
formed a great majority. A young gentleman who had like- 
wise some friends in the House, and wished to succeed me as 
their clerk, acquainted me that it was decided to displace me 
at the next election; and he, therefore, in good will, advised 
me to resign, as more consistent with my honor than being 
turned out. My answer to him was, that I had read or heard 
of some public man who made it a rule never to ask for an 
office, and never to refuse one when offered to him. " I 
approve," says I, "of his rule, and will practice it with a 
small addition: I shall never ask, never refuse, nor ever 
resign an office. If they will have my office of clerk to dispose 
of to another, they shall take it from me. I will not, by 
giving it up, lose my right of some time or other making 
reprisals on my adversaries." I heard, however, no more of 
this; I was chosen again unanimously as usual at the next 
election. Possibly, as they disliked my late intimacy with the 
members of council, who had joined the governors in all the 
disputes about military preparations, with which the House 
had long been harassed, they might have been pleased if I 
would voluntarily have left them; but they did not care to 
displace me on account merely of my zeal for the association, 
and they could not well give another reason. 

Indeed I had some cause to believe that the defense of the 
country was not disagreeable to any of them, provided they 
were not required to assist in it. And I found that a much 
greater number of them than I could have imagined, though 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 151 

against offensive war, were clearly for the defensive.- Many 
pamphlets pro and con were published on the subject, and 
some by good Quakers, in favor of defense, which I believe 
convinced most of their younger people. 

A transaction in our fire company gave me some insight 
into their prevailing sentiments. It had been proposed that 
we should encourage the scheme for building a battery by 
laying out the present stock, then about sixty pounds, in 
tickets of the lottery. By our rules, no money could be dis- 
posed of till the next meeting after the proposal. The com- 
pany consisted of thirty members, of which twenty-two were 
Quakers, and eight only of other persuasions. We eight 
punctually attended the meeting ; but, though we thought that 
some of the Quakers would join us, we were by no means sure 
•of a majority. Only one Quaker, Mr. James Morris, appeared 
to oppose the measure. He expressed much sorrow that it 
had ever been proposed, as he said Friends were all against 
it, and it would create such discord as might break up the 
company. We told him that we saw no reason for that; we 
were the minority, and if Friends were against the measure, 
and outvoted us, we must and should, agreeably to the usage 
of all societies, submit. When the hour for business arrived 
it was moved to put the vote ; he allowed we might then do it 
by the rules, but, as he could assure us that a number of 
members intended to be present for the purpose of opposing 
it, it would be but candid to allow a little time for their ap- 
pearing. 

While we w^ere disputing this, a waiter ^ came to tell me two 
gentlemen below desired to speak with me. I went down, 

2 This became very clear at a later convinced of the duty of self de- 
time, when the Indian outbreak pro- fense. 

moted by Pontiac, at the end of the ^ The meeting Was held in a tav- 

French and Indian war, led to great ern, as was commonly the case in the 

inroads on the western frontier by 18th century, 
which the Quakers were thoroughly 



152 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

and found they were two of our Quaker members. They told 
me there were eight of them assembled at a tavern just by; 
that they were determined to come and vote with us if there 
should be occasion, which they hoped would not be the case, 
and desired we would not call for the assistance if we could 
do without it, as their voting for such a measure might em- 
broil them with their elders and friends. Being thus secure 
of a majority, I went up, and after a little seeming hesitation, 
agreed to a delay of another hour. This Mr. Morris allowed 
to be extremely fair. ]^ot one of his opposing friends ap- 
peared, at which he expressed great surprise; and, at the 
expiration of the hour, we carried the resolution eight to 
one; and as, of the twenty-two Quakers, eight were ready 
to vote with us, and thirteen, by their absence, manifested 
that they were not inclined to oppose the measure, I after- 
ward estimated the proportion of Quakers sincerely against 
defense as one to twenty-one only; for these were all regular 
members of that societ}^ and in good reputation among them, 
and had due notice of what was proposed at that meeting. 

The honorable and learned Mr. Logan,* who had always 
been of that sect, was one who wrote an address to them, 
declaring his approbation of defensive war, and supporting 
his opinion by many strong arguments. He put into my 
hands sixty pounds to be laid out in lottery tickets for the 
battery, with directions to apply what prizes might be drawn 
wholly to that service. He told me the following anecdote of 
his old master, William Penn, respecting defense. He came 
over from England, when a young man, with that proprietary, 
and as his secretary. It was war-time, and their ship was 
chased by an armed vessel, supposed to be an enemy. Their 
captain prepared for defense ; but told William Penn, and his 

* James Logan, 1674-1751, who and held various positions of trust, 

had come to America as the secre- He was a man of scholarship and 

tary of William Penn, was one of learning and left his library to the 

the principle mea in the province, Library Company, 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRAXKLIX 153 

company of Quakers, that he did not expect their assistance, 
and they might retire into the cabin, which they did, except 
James Logan, who chose to stay upon deck, and was quartered 
to a gun. The supposed enemy proved a friend, so there 
was no fighting; but when the secretary went down to com- 
municate the intelligence, William Penn rebuked him severely 
for staying upon deck, and undertaking to assist in defending 
the vessel, contrary to the principles of Friends, especially 
as it had not been required by the captain. This reproof, 
being before all the company, piqued the secretary, who 
answered: ''I being thy servant, why did thee not order me 
to come down? But thee was willing enough that I should 
stay and help to fight the ship when thee thought there was 
danger.'* 

My being many years in the Assembly, the majority of 
which were constantly Quakers, gave me frequent opportuni- 
ties of seeing the embarrassment given them by their prin- 
ciple against war, whenever application was made to them, 
by order of the crown, to grant aids for military purposes. 
They were unwilling to offend government, on the one hand, 
by a direct refusal; and their friends, the body of the 
Quakers, on the other, by a compliance contrary to their 
principles; hence a variety of evasions to avoid complying, 
and modes of disguising the compliance when it became un- 
avoidable. The common mode at last was, to grant money 
under the phrase of its being ''for the king's use/' and never 
to inquire how it was applied. 

But, if the demand was not directly from the crown, that 
phrase was found not so proper, and some other was to be 
invented. As, when powder was wanting (I think it was for 
the garrison at Louisburg^), and the government of 'New 
England solicited a grant of some from Pennsylvania, which 

^Louisburg was one of the strong- it was captured by the New England 
est posts of the French in America: colonists in 1745. 



154 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

was much urged on the House by Governor Thomas, they 
could not grant money to buy powder, because that was an in- 
gredient of war; but they voted an aid to New England of 
three thousand pounds, to be put into the hands of the 
governor, and appropriated it for the purchasing of bread, 
flour, wheat, or other grain. Some of the council, desirous 
of giving the House still further embarrassment, advised the 
governor not to accept provision, as not being the thing he had 
demanded ; but he replied : " I shall take the money, for I 
understand very well their meaning; other grain is gun- 
powder,'' which he accordingly bought, and they never ob- 
jected to it. 

It was in allusion to this fact that, when in our fire com- 
pany we feared the success of our proposal in favor of the 
lottery, and I had said to my friend Mr. Syng, one of our 
members : " If we fail, let us move the purchase of a fire- 
engine with the money ; the Quakers can have no objection to 
that ; and then, if you nominate me and I you as a committee 
for that purpose, we will buy a great gun, which is certainly 
a fire-engine" " I see,^^ says he, " you have improved by 
being so long in the Assembly; your equivocal project would 
be just a match for their wheat or other grain/' 

These embarrassments that the Quakers suffered from hav- 
ing established and published it as one of their principles that 
no kind of war was- lawful, and which, being once published, 
they could not afterwards, however they might change their 
minds, easily get rid of, reminds me of what I think a more 
prudent conduct in another sect among us, that of the Dun- 
kers.® I was acquainted with one of its founders, Michael 
Welfare, soon after it appeared. He complained to me that 
they were grievously calumniated by the zealots of other 

® or German Baptist Brethren, a in the early years of the 18th cen- 
sect which emigrated to Pennsylvania tury. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJA]\tlX FHANKLIX 155 

persuasions, and charged with abominahle principles and 
practices, to which they were utter strangers. I told him 
this had always been the case with new sects, and that, to 
put a stop to such abuse, I imagined it might be well to pub- 
lish the articles of their belief, and the rules of their disci- 
pline. He said that it had been proposed among them, but 
not agreed to, for this reason: "When we were first drawn 
together as a society," says he, "it had pleased God to en- 
lighten our minds so far as to see that some doctrines, which 
we once esteemed truths, were errors ; and that others, which 
we had esteemed errors, were real truths. From time to time 
He has been pleased to afford us farther light, and our prin- 
ciples have been improving, and our errors diminishing. Xow 
we are not sure that we are arrived at the end of this pro- 
gression, and at the perfection of spiritual or theological 
knowledge; and we fear that, if we should once print our 
confession of faith, we should feel ourselves as if bound and 
confined by it, and perhaps be unwilling to receive farther 
improvement, and our successors still more so, as conceiving 
what we their elders and founders had done, to be something 
sacred, never to be departed from." '^ 

This modesty in a sect is perhaps a singular instance in the 
history of mankind, every other sect supposing itself in pos- 
session of all truth, and that those who difi'er are so far in the 
wrong; like a man traveling in foggy weather, those at some 
distance before him on the road he sees wrapped up in the 
fog, as well as those behind him, and also the people in the 
fields on each side, but near him all appears clear, though in 
truth he is as much in the fog as any of them. To avoid this 
kind of embarrassment, the Quakers have of late years been 
gradually declining the public service in the Assembly and in 

■'^ The view of development of re- and more coming to govern men's 
ligious doctrine is one which is more ideas of Church creeds. 



156 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP BENJAMIN PRANKLIN 

the magistracy, choosing rather to quit their power than their 
principle. 

In order of time, I should have mentioned before, that 
having, in 1742, invented an open stove ^ for the better warm- • 
ing of rooms, and at the same time saving fuel, as the fresh 
air admitted was warmed in entering, I made a present of the 
model to Mr. Eobert Grace, one of my early friends, who, 
having an iron furnace, found the casting of the plates for 
these stoves a profitable thing, as they were growing in de- 
mand. To promote that demand, I wrote and published a 
pamphlet, entitled ^' An Account of the new-invented Penn- 
sylvania Fireplaces; wherein their Construction and Manner 
of Operation is particularly explained; their Advantages 
above every other Method of warming Rooms demonstrated; 
and all Objections that have been raised against the Use of 
them a?iswered and obviated/' etc. This pamphlet had a 
good efl^ect. Governor Thomas was so pleased with the con- 
struction of this stove, as described in it, that he offered to 
give me a patent for the sole vending of them for a term of 
years; but I declined it from a principle which has ever 
weighed with me on such occasions, viz.. That, as we enjoy 
great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be 
glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of 
ours; and this we should do freely and generously. 

An ironmonger in London, however, assuming a good deal 
of my pamphlet, and working it up into his own, and making 
some small changes in the machine, which rather hurt its 
operation, got a patent for it there, and made, as I was told, 
a little fortune by it. And this is not the only instance of 
patents taken out for my inventions by others, though not 
always with the same success, which I never contested, as 
having no desire of profiting by patents myself, and hating 

8 This was the well-known Franklin stove which in one form or another is 
still much in use. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 157 

disputes. The use of these fireplaces in very many houses, 
both of this and the neighboring colonies, has been, and is, a 
great saving of wood to the inhabitants.^ 

Peace being concluded, and the association business there- 
fore at an end, I turned my thoughts again to the affair of 
establishing an academy.^ The first step I took was to asso- 
ciate in the design a number of active friends, of whom the 
Junto furnished a good part ; the next was to write and pub- 
lish a pamphlet, entitled Proposals relating to the Ec ja- 
tion of Youth in Pennsylvania. This I distributed among 
the principal inhabitants gratis; and as soon as I could sup- 
pose their minds a little prepared by the perusal of it, I set on 
foot a subscription for opening and supporting an academy: 
it was to be paid in quotas yearly for five years ; by so divid- 
ing it, I judged the subscription might be larger, and I believe 
it was so, amounting to no less, if I remember right, than five 
thousand pounds. 

In the introduction of these proposals, I stated their publica- 
tion, not as an act of mine, but of some public-spirited gentle- 
men, avoiding as much as I could, according to my usual 
rule,^ the presenting myself to the public as the author of any 
scheme for their benefit. 

The subscribers, to carry the project into immediate exe- 
cution, chose out of their number twenty-four trustees, and 
appointed Mr. Francis, then Attorney-General, and myself to 
draw up constitutions for the government of the academy; 
which being done and signed, a house was hired, masters 
engaged, and the schools opened, I think, in the same year, 
1749. 

The scholars increasing fast, the house was soon found too 
small, and we were looking out for a piece of ground, prop- 

8 Pennsylvania is now one of the * This was the origin of the Uni- 

great coal producing regions of the versity of Pennsylvania, 

world, but the coal was unknown ^ gee p, 109. 
at this time. 



158 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

erly situated, with intention to build, when Providence threw 
into our way a large house ready built, which, with a few 
alterations, might well serve our purpose. This was the build- 
ing before mentioned, erected by the hearers of Mr. White- 
field, and was obtained for us in the following manner.^ 

It is to be noted that the contributions to this building 
being made by people of different sects, care was taken in the 
nomination of trustees, in whom the building and ground 
was to be vested, that a predominancy should not be given to 
any sect, lest in time that predominancy might be a means of 
appropriating the whole to the use of such sect, contrary to 
the original intention. It was therefore that one of each sect 
was appointed, viz., one Church-of-England man, one Pres- 
byterian, one Baptist, one Moravian, etc.; those, in case of 
vacancy by death, were to fill it by election from among the 
contributors. The Moravian happened not to please his col- 
leagues, and on his death they resolved to have no other of 
that sect. The difficulty then was, how to avoid having two 
of some other sect, by means of the new choice. 

Several persons were named, and for that reason not agreed 
to. At length one mentioned me, with the observation that 
I was merely an honest man, and of no sect at all, which pre- 
vailed with them to choose me. The enthusiasm which existed 
when the house was built had long since abated, and its 
trustees had not been able to procure fresh contributions for 
paying the ground-rent, and discharging some other debts the 
building had occasioned, which embarrassed them greatly. 
Being now a member of both sets of trustees, that for the 
building and that for the academy, I had a good opportunity 
of negotiating with both, and brought them finally to an 
agreement, by which the trustees for the building were to 
cede it to those of the academy, the latter undertaking to dis- 
charge the debt, to keep forever open in the building a large 

3 See p. 141. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 159 

hall for occasional preachers, according to the original inten- 
tion, and maintain a free-school for the instruction of poor 
children. Writings were accordingly drawn, and on paying 
the debts the trustees of the academy were put in possession 
of the premises ; and by dividing the great and lofty hall into 
stories, and different rooms above and below for the several 
schools, and purchasing some additional ground, the whole 
was soon made fit for our purpose, and the scholars removed 
into the building. The care and trouble of agreeing with the 
workmen, purchasing materials, and superintending the work, 
fell upon me; and I went through it the more cheerfully, as 
it did not then interfere with my private business, having the 
year before taken a very able, industrious, and honest partner, 
Mr. David Hall, with whose character I was well acquainted, 
as he had worked for me four years. He took off my hands 
all care of the printing-office, paying me punctually my share 
of the profits. This partnership continued eighteen years, 
successfully for us both.* 

The trustees of the academy, after a while, were incor- 
porated by a charter from the governor; their funds were 
increased by contributions in Britain and grants of land from 
the proprietaries, to which the Assembly has since made con- 
siderable addition; and thus was established the present 
University of Philadelphia. I have been continued one of 
its trustees from the beginning, now near forty years, and 
have had the very great pleasure of seeing a number of the 
youth who have received their education in it, distinguished 
by their improved abilities, serviceable in public stations, and 
ornaments to their country. 

When I disengaged myself, as above mentioned, from 
private business, I flattered myself that, by the sufficient 

* This means that at the age of vote himself to the private and 
43, Franklin was practically able to public concerns which made his real 
retire from active business and de- interest in life. 



IGO THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

though moderate fortune I had acquired, I had secured leisure 
during the rest of my life for philosophical studies and 
amusements. I purchased all Dr. Spence's apparatus,^ who 
had come from England to lecture here, and I proceeded in 
my electrical experiments with great alacrity ; ^ but the public, 
now considering me as a man of leisure, laid hold of me for 
their purposes, every part of our civil government, and almost 
at the same time, imposing some duty upon me. The gov- 
ernor put me into the commission of the peace,'^ the corpora- 
tion of the city chose me of the common council, and soon 
after an alderman; and the citizens at large chose me a 
burgess to represent them in Assembly. This latter station 
was the more agreeable to me, as I was at length tired with 
sitting there to hear debates, in which, as clerk, I could take 
no part, and which were often so unentertaining that I was 
induced to amuse myself with making magic squares or circles,® 
or anything to avoid weariness ; and I conceived my becoming 
a member would -enlarge my power of doing good. I would 
not, however, insinuate that my ambition was not flattered 
by all these promotions; it certainly was; for, considering 
my low beginning, they were great things to me; and they 
were still more pleasing, as being so many spontaneous testi- 
monies of the public good opinion, and by me entirely un- 
solicited. 

The office of justice of the peace I tried a little, by attend- 
ing a few courts, and sitting on the bench to hear causes ; but 
finding that more knowledge of the common law than I 

'^ See p. 200. "^ i. e. made him a justice of the 

6 Franklin has heretofore said peace, 

nothing about his studies in elec- ^ A magic square is a square ruled 

tricity. He had become interested like a checker-board, in each divi- 

in this subject in 1746 when Peter sion of which is written a number. 

Collinson, the agent for the Library The object is to arrange the numbers 

Company had sent with the books so that the different lines up and 

ordered, one of the electrical tubes down, across, and diagonal, will al- 

which were at the time the sensa- ways add up to the same amount. 
tion of Europe. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 161 

possessed was necessary to act in that station with credit, I 
gradually withdrew from it, excusing myself by my being 
obliged to attend the higher duties of a legislator in the 
Assembly. My election to this trust was repeated every year 
for ten years, without my ever asking any elector for his 
vote, or signifying, either directly or indirectly, any desire of 
being chosen. On taking my seat in the House, my son was 
appointed their clerk. 

The year following, a treaty being to be held with the 
Indians at Carlisle, the governor sent a message to the House, 
proposing that they should nominate some of their members, 
to be joined with some members of council, as commissioners 
for that purpose.® The House named the speaker (Mr. Nor- 
ris) and myself; and, being commissioned, we went to Carlisle, 
and met the Indians accordingly. 

As those people are extremely apt to get drunk, and, when 
so, are very quarrelsome and disorderly, we strictly forbade 
the selling any liquor to them ; and when they complained of 
this restriction, we told them that if they would continue 
sober during the treaty, we would give them plenty of rum 
when the business was over. They promised this, and they 
kept their promise, because they could get no liquor, and the 
treaty was conducted very orderly, and concluded to mutual 
satisfaction. They then claimed and received the rum ; this 
was in the afternoon; they were near one hundred men, 
women, and children, and were lodged in temporary cabins, 
built in the form of a square, just without the town. In the 
evening, hearing a great noise among them, the commis- 
sioners walked out to see what was the matter. We found 
they had mxade a great bonfire in the middle of the square; 
they were all drunk, men and women, quarreling and fight- 
ing. Their dark-colored bodies, half naked, seen only by 
the gloomy light of the bonfire, running after and beating 

^ to meet with the Indians at Carlisle. 



162 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJaMIX ERAXKLIX 

one another with firebrands, accompanied by their iiorrid 
yellings, formed a scene the most resembling our ideas of 
hell that could well be imagined ; there was no appeasing the 
tumult, and we retired to our lodging. At midnight a number 
of them came thundering at our door, demanding more rum, 
of which we took no notice. 

The next day, sensible they had misbehaved in giving us 
that disturbance, they sent three of their old counselors to 
make their apology. The orator acknowledged the fault, but 
laid it upon the rum; and then endeavored to excuse the 
rum by saying: ''The Great Spirit, ivJio made all things, 
made everything for some use, and ivhatever use he designed 
anything for, that use it should always he put to. Now, 
when he made rum, he said 'Let this be for the Indians to 
get drunk with,' and it must he so/' And, indeed, if it be 
the design of Providence to extirpate these savages in order 
to make room for cultivators of the earth, it seems not im- 
probable that rum may be the appointed means. It has 
already annihilated all the tribes who formerly inhabited the 
sea-coast.^ 

In 1751, Dr. Thomas Bond, a particular friend of mine, 
conceived the idea of establishing a hospital in Philadelphia 
(a very beneficent design, which has been ascribed to me, but 
was originally his), for the reception and cure of poor sick 
persons, whether inhabitants of the province or strangers. 
He was zealous and active in endeavoring to procure sub- 
scriptions for it, but the proposal being a novelty in America, 
and at first not well understood, he met with but small 
success. 

At length he came to me with the compliment that he found 

1 It was perhaps necessary that country should be left entirely unde- 

the Indians in the United States veloped. Still it is a pity that they 

should he entirely displaced: they should have been annihilated by such 

were comparatively few in number, means as were actually used, 
and their mode of life demanded the 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 163 

there was no such thing as carrying a public-spirited project 
through without my being concerned in it. " For/' says he, 
" I am often asked by those to whom I propose subscribing, 
^ Have you consulted Franklin upon this business ? And 
what does he think of it ? ' And when I tell them that I have 
not (supposing it rather out of your line), they do not sub- 
scribe, but say they will consider of it." I inquired into the 
nature and probable utility of his scheme, and receiving from 
him a very satisfactory explanation, I not only subscribed to 
it myself, but engaged heartily in the design of procuring 
subscriptions from others. Previously, however, to the solici- 
tation, I endeavored to prepare the minds of the people by 
writing on the subject in the newspapers, which was my usual 
custom in such cases, but which he had omitted. 

The subscriptions afterwards were more free and generous; 
but, beginning to flag, I saw they would be insufficient with- 
out some assistance from the Assembly, and therefore pro- 
posed to petition for it, which was done. The country mem- 
bers did not at first relish the project; they objected that it 
could only be serviceable to the city, and therefore the citizens ^ 
alone should be at the expense of it; and they doubted 
whether the citizens themselves generally approved of it. 
My allegation on the contrary, that it met with such approba- 
tion as to leave no doubt of our being able to raise two thou- 
sand pounds by voluntary donations, they considered as a most 
extravagant supposition, and utterly impossible. 

On this I formed my plan ; ^ and, asking leave to bring in a 
bill for incorporating the contributors according to the prayer 
of their petition, and granting them a blank sum of money, 
which leave was obtained chiefly on the consideration that 

2 Meaning the inhabitants of the practice. Franklin merely took ad- 
eity, although in the modern use of vantage of his greater confidence 
the word, " citizen " includes dwell- in the use and value of his idea. He 
ers in city and country alike. was sure that the people would back 

3 The plan was not really sharp him. 



164 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIX FRANKLIN 

the House could throw the bill out if they did not like it, I 
drew it so as to make the important clause a conditional one, 
viz. : " And be it enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that 
when the said contributors shall have met and chosen their 
managers and treasurer, and shall have raised hy their con- 
tributions a capital stock of value (the yearly interest 

of which is to be applied to the accommodating of the sick 
poor in the said hospital, free of charge for diet, attendance, 
advice, and medicines), and shall make the same appear to 
the satisfaction of the speaker of the Assemhly for the time 
being, that then it shall and may be lawful for the said 
speaker, and he is hereby required, to sign an order on the 
provincial treasurer for the payment of two thousand pounds, 
in two yearly payments, to the treasurer of the said hospital, 
to be applied to the founding, building, and finishing of the 
same." 

This condition carried the bill through; for the members 
who had opposed the grant, and now conceived they might 
have the credit of being charitable without the expense, agreed 
to its passage; and then, in soliciting subscriptions among 
the people, we urged the conditional promise of the law as an 
additional motive to give, since every man's donation would 
be doubled; thus the clause worked both ways. The sub- 
scriptions accordingly soon exceeded the requisite sum, and 
we claimed and received the public gift, which enabled us to 
carry the design into execution. A convenient and handsome 
building was soon erected; the institution has, by constant 
experience, been found useful, and flourishes to this day; 
and I 'do not remember any of my political maneuvers, the 
success of which gave me at the time more pleasure, or 
wherein, after thinking of it, I more easily excused myself 
for having made some use of cunning. 

It was about this time that another projector, the Rev. 
Gilbert Tennent, came to me with a request that I would assist 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 165 

him in procuring a subscription for erecting a new meeting- 
house. It was to be for the use of a congregation he had 
gathered among the Presbyterians, who were originally dis- 
ciples of Mr. Whitefield. Unwilling to make myself disagree- 
able to my fellow-citizens by too frequently soliciting their 
contributions, I absolutely refused. He then desired I would 
furnish him with a list of the names of persons I knew by ex- 
perience to be generous and public-spirited. I thought it 
would be unbecoming in me, after their kind compliance with 
my solicitations, to mark them out to be worried by other 
beggars, and therefore refused also to give such a list. He 
then desired I would at least give him my advice. " That I 
will readily do," said I ; " and, in the first place, I advise you 
to apply to all those whom you know will give something; 
next, to those whom you are uncertain whether they will give 
anything or not, and show them the list of those who have 
given ; and, lastly, do not neglect those who you are sure will 
give nothing, for in some of them you may be mistaken." 
He laughed and thanked me, and said he would take my ad- 
vice. He did so, for he asked of everybody, and he obtained 
a much larger sum than he expected, with which he erected 
the capacious and very elegant meeting-house that stands in 
Arch Street. 

Our city, though laid out with a beautiful regularity, the 
streets large, straight, and crossing each other at right 
angles, had the disgrace of suffering those streets to remain 
long unpaved, and in wet weather the wheels of heavy car- 
riages plowed them into a quagmire, so that it was difficult 
to cross them; and in dry weather the dust was offensive.* I 
had lived near what was called the Jersey Market, and saw, 
with pain, the inhabitants wading in mud while purchasing 

*We should be very much aston- a good idea of what was the state 

ished to-day at the paving and of things even in cities much larger 

lighting even of large cities in the than Philadelphia then was. 
18th century. The text here gives 



166 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

their provisions. A strip of ground down the middle of that 
market was at length paved with brick, so that, being once in 
the market, they had firm footing, but were often over shoes 
in dirt to get there. By talking and writing on the subject, 
I was at length instrumental in getting the street paved with 
stone between the market and the bricked foot-pavement, that 
was on each side next the 'houses. This, for some time, gave 
an easy access to the market dry-shod; but, the rest of the 
street not being paved, whenever a carriage came out of the 
mud upon this pavement, it shook off and left its dirt upon 
it, and it was soon covered with mire, which was not re- 
moved, the city as yet having no scavengers. 

After some inquiry, I found a poor, industrious man, who 
was willing to undertake keeping the pavement clean, by 
sweeping it twice a w^eek, carrying off the dirt from before all 
the neighbors' doors, for the sum of sixpence per month, to be 
paid by each house. I then wrote and printed a paper set- 
ting forth the advantages to the neighborhood that might 
be obtained by this small expense ; the greater ease in keeping 
our houses clean, so much dirt not being brought in by 
people's feet; the benefit to the shops by more custom, etc., 
etc., as buyers could more easily get at them; and by not 
having, in windy weather, the dust blown in upon their goods, 
etc., etc. I sent one of these papers to each house, and in a 
day or two went round to see who would subscribe an agree- 
ment to pay these sixpences ; it was unanimously signed, and 
for a time well executed. All the inhabitants of the city were 
delighted with the cleanliness of the pavement that surrounded 
the market, it being a convenience to all, and this raised a 
general desire to have all the streets paved, and made the 
people more willing to submit to a tax for that purpose. 

After some time I drew a bill for paving the city, and 
brought it into the x\ssembly. It was just before I went to 
England, in 1757, and did not pass till I was gone, and then, 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN- FRANKLIN 167 

with an alteration in the mode of assessment, which I thought 
not for the better, but with an additional provision for light- 
ing as well as paving the streets, which was a great improve- 
ment. It was by a private person, the late Mr. John Clifton, 
his giving a sample of the utility of lamps, by placing one at 
his door, that the people were first impressed with the idea of 
enlighting all the city. The honor of this public benefit has 
also been ascribed to me, but it belongs truly to that gentle- 
man. I did but follow his example, and have only some 
merit to claim respecting the form of our lamps, as differing 
from the globe lamps we were at first supplied with from 
London. Those we found inconvenient in these respects : 
they admitted no air below; the smoke, therefore, did not 
readily go out above, but circulated in the globe, lodged on 
its inside, and soon obstructed the light they were intended 
to afford; giving, besides, the daily trouble of wiping them 
clean; and an accidental stroke on one of them would de- 
molish it, and render it totally useless. I therefore suggested 
the composing them of four flat panes, with a long funnel 
above to draw up the smoke, and crevices admitting air below, 
to facilitate the ascent of the smoke ; by this means they were 
kept clean, and did not grow dark in a few hours, as the 
London lamps do, but continued bright till morning, and an 
accidental stroke would generally break but a single pane, 
easily repaired. 

I have sometimes wondered that the Londoners did not, 
from the effect holes in the bottom of the globe lamps used at 
A/'auxhall have in keeping them clean, learn to have such 
holes in their streets lamps. But, these holes being made for 
another purpose, viz., to communicate flame more suddenly 
to the wick by a little flax hanging down through them, the 
other use, of letting in air, seems not to have been thought of ; 
and therefore, after the lamps have been lit a few hours, the 
streets of London are very poorly illuminated. 



168 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIN FRANKLIN 

The mention of these improvements puts me in mind of one 
I proposed, when in London, to Dr. Fothergill,^ who was 
among the best men I have known, and a great promoter of 
useful projects. I had observed that the streets, when dry, 
were never swept, and the light dust carried away; but it 
was suffered to accumulate till wet weather reduced it to mud, 
and then, after lying some days so deep on the pavement that 
there was no crossing but in paths kept clean by poor people 
with brooms, it was with great labor raked together and 
thrown up into carts open above, the sides of which suffered 
some of the slush at every jolt on the pavement to shake out 
and fall, sometimes to the annoyance of foot-passengers. The 
reason given for not sweeping the dusty streets was, that the 
dust would fly into the windows of shops and houses. 

An accidental occurrence had instructed me how much 
sweeping might be done in a little time. I found at my door 
in Craven Street one morning, a poor woman sweeping my 
pavement with a birch broom; she appeared very pale and 
feeble, as just come out of a fit of sickness. I asked who em- 
ployed her to sweep there ; she said : " N'obody ; but I am 
very poor and in distress, and I sweeps before gentlefolkses 
doors, and hopes they will give me something." I bid her 
sweep the whole street clean, and I would give her a shilling; 
this was at nine o'clock; at twelve she came for the shilling. 
From the slowness I saw at first in her working, I could 
scarce believe that the work was done so soon, and sent my 
servant to examine it, who reported that the whole street was 
swept perfectly clean, and all the dust placed in the gutter, 
w^hicli was in the middle; and the next rain washed it quite 
away, so that the pavement and even the kennel ^ were per- 
fectly clean. 

^ John Fothergill, 1712-1780, was able botanic garden. See pp. 201, 

a physician of large practice and 216. 

great scientific interests, more espe- ^ The gutter of the street. The 

daily in botany. He had a remark- word is connected with "channel." 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPPIY OF BEXJAMIN FRANKLIN 1G9 

I then judged that, if that feeble woman could sweep such 
a street in three hours, a strong, active man might have done 
it in half the time. And here let me remark the convenience 
of having but one gutter in such a narrow street, running 
down its middle, instead of two, one on each side, near the 
footway; for where all the rain that falls on a street runs 
from the sides and meets in the middle, it forms there a cur- 
rent strong enough to wash away all the mud it meets with ; 
but when divided into two channels, it is often too weak to 
cleanse either, and only makes the mud it finds more fluid, so 
that the wheels of carriages and feet of horses throw and 
dash it upon the foot-pavement, which is thereby rendered 
foul and slippery, and sometimes splash it upon those who are 
walking. My proposal, communicated to the good doctor, 
was as follows: 

" For the more effectual cleaning and keeping clean the 
streets of London and Westminster, it is proposed that the 
several watchmen be contracted with to have, the dust swept 
up in dry seasons, and the mud raked up at other times, each 
in the several streets and lanes of his round; that they be 
furnished with brooms and other proper instruments for these 
purposes, to be kept at their respective stands, ready to fur- 
nish the poor people they may employ in the service. 

" That in the dry summer months the dust be all swept up 
into heaps at proper distances, before the shops and windows 
of houses are usually opened, when the scavengers, with 
close-covered carts, shall also carry it all away. 

" That the mud, when raked up, be not left in heaps to be 
spread abroad again by the wheels of carriages and trampling 
of horses, but that the scavengers be provided with bodies of 
carts, not placed high upon wheels, but low upon sliders, 
with lattice bottoms, which, being covered with straw, will 
retain the mud thrown into them, and permit the water to 
drain from it. whereby it will become much lighter, water 



170 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

making the greatest part of its weight; these bodies of carts 
to be placed at convenient distances, and the mud brought to 
them in wheel barrows; they remaining where placed till the 
mud is drained, and then horses brought to draw them 
away.'^ 

I have since had doubts of the practicability of the latter 
part of this proposal, on account of the narrowness of some 
streets, and the difhculty of placing the draining-sleds so as 
not to encumber too much the passage; but I am still of 
opinion that the former, requiring the dust to be swept up 
and carried away before the shops are open, is very practi- 
cable in summer, when the days are long; for, in walking 
through the Strand and Fleet Street one morning at seven 
o'clock, I observed there was not one shop open, though it 
had been daylight and the sun up above three hours ; the in- 
habitants of London choosing voluntarily to live much by 
candle-light, and sleep by sunshine, and yet often complain, a 
little absurdly, of the duty on candles, and the high price of 
tallow. 

Some may think these trifling matters not worth minding, 
or relating; but when they consider that though dust blown 
into the eyes of a single person, or into a single shop on a 
windy day, is but of small importance, yet the great number 
of the instances in a populous city, and its frequent repeti- 
tions give it weight and consequence, perhaps they will not 
censure very severely those who bestow some attention to 
affairs of this seemingly low nature. Human felicity is pro- 
duced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that 
seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day. 
Thus, if you teach a poor young man to shave himself, and 
keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the 
happiness of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas. 
The money may be soon spent, the regret only remaining of 
having foolishly consumed it; but in the other case, he es- 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 171 

capes the frequent vexation of waiting for barbers, and of 
their sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull 
razors; he shaves when most convenient to him, and enjoys 
daily the pleasure of its being done with a good instrument. 
With these sentiments I have hazarded the few preceding 
pages, hoping they may afford hints which some time or other 
may be useful to a city I love, having lived many years in it 
very happily, and perhaps to some of our towns in America. 

Having been for some time employed by the Postmaster- 
General of America as his controller in regulating several 
offices, and bringing the officers to account, I was, upon his 
death in 1753, appointed, jointly with Mr. William Hunter, 
to succeed him, by a commission from the Postmaster-General 
in England.^ The American office never had hitherto paid 
anything to that of Great Britain. We were to have six hun- 
dred pounds a year between us, if we could make that sum 
out of the profits of the office. To do this, a variety of im- 
provements were necessary; some of these were inevitably at 
first expensive, so that in the first four years the office be- 
came above nine hundred pounds in debt to us. But it soon 
after began to repay us; and before I was displaced by a 
freak of the ministers, of which I shall speak hereafter, we 
had brought it to yield three times as much clear revenue to 
the crown as the post-office of Ireland. Since that imprudent 
transaction, they have received from it — not one far- 
thing ! 

The business of the post-office occasioned my taking a jour- 
ney this year to New England, where the College of Cam- 
bridge,^ of their own motion, presented me with the degree of 
Master of Arts. Yale College, in Connecticut, had before 
made me a similar compliment. Thus, without studying in 
any college, I came to partake of tlieir honors. They were 

''■ The post was managed at this time, not by the colonies but by England. 
8 better known as Harvard College, 



173 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

conferred in consideration of my improvements and discover- 
ies in the electric branch of natural philosophy. 

In 1754, war with France being again apprehended, a con- 
gress of commissioners from the different colonies was, by an 
order- of the Lords of Trade,^ to be assembled at Albany, there 
to confer with the chiefs of the Six Nations concerning the 
means of defending both their country and ours. Governor 
Hamilton, having received this order, acquainted the House 
with it, requesting they would furnish proper presents for 
the Indians, to be given on this occasion; and naming the 
speaker (Mr. Norris) and myself to join Mr. Thomas Penn 
and Mr. Secretary Peters as commissioners to act for Penn- 
sylvania. The House approved the nomination, and provided 
the goods for the present, though they did not much like 
treating out of the provinces; ^.and we met the other commis- 
sioners at Albany about the middle of June. 

In our way thither, I projected and drew a plan for the 
union of all the colonies under one government, so far as 
might be necessary for defense, and other important general 
purposes. As we passed through New York, I had there 
shown my project to Mr. James Alexander and Mr. Kennedy, 
two gentlemen of great knowledge in public affairs, and, be- 
ing fortified by their approbation, I ventured to lay it before 
the Congress. It then appeared that several of the commis- 
sioners had formed plans of the same kind.^ A previous 
question was first taken, whether a union should be estab- 
lished, which passed in the affirmative unanimously. A com- 
mittee was then appointed, one member from each colony, to 
consider the several plans and report. Mine happened to be 
preferred, and, with a few amendments, was accordingly re- 
ported. 

' now the Board of Trade, a com- of a union of the colonies, which 

mittee of the English government. now appears so natural and neces- 

^ i. «., not in Pennsylvania. sary, was gradually taking form in 

*This episode shows how the idea men's minds. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 173 

By this plan the general government was to be administered 
by a President-General, appointed and supported by the crown, 
and a grand council was to be chosen by the representatives 
of the people of the several colonies, met in their respective 
assemblies. The debates upon it in Congress went on daily, 
hand in hand with the Indian business. Many objections and 
difficulties were started, but at length they were all overcome, 
and the plan was unanimously agreed to, and copies ordered 
to be transmitted to the Board of Trade and to the assemblies 
of the several provinces. Its fate was singular: the Assem- 
blies did not adopt it, as they all thought there was too much 
prerogative ^ in it, and in England it was judged to have too 
much of the democratic. The Board of Trade therefore did 
not approve of it, nor recommend it for the approbation of 
his majesty ; but another scheme was formed, supposed to an- 
swer the same purpose better, whereby the governors of the 
provinces, with some members of their respective councils, 
were to meet and order the raising of troops, building of 
forts, etc., and to draw on the treasury of Great Britain for 
the expense, which was afterwards to be refunded by an act 
of Parliament laying a tax on America. My plan, with my 
reasons in support of it, is to be found among my political 
papers that are printed. 

Being the winter following in Boston, I had much conversa- 
tion with Governor Shirley * upon both the plans. Part of 
what passed between us on the occasion may also be seen 
among those papers. The different and contrary reasons of 
dislike to my plan make me suspect that it was really the true 
medium ; ^ and I am still of opinion it would have been happy 
for both sides the water if it had been adopted. The Colo- 
nies, so united, would have been sufficiently strong to have 

3 i. e., too much of the royal power. ^ The fact that they were contrary 

* One of the most active of the showed that both could not be right : 

provincial governors. He had put Franklin thought it probable that 

through the capture of Louisburg. both were wrong. 



174 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

defended themselves; there would then have been no need of 
troops from England; of course, the subsequent pretense for 
taxing America, and the bloody contest it occasioned, would 
have been avoided. But such mistakes are not new: history 
is full of the errors of states and princes. 

" Look round the habitable world, how few 
Know their own good, or, knowing it, pursue! " 

Those who govern, having much business on their hands, 
do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and 
carrying into execution new projects. The best public meas- 
ures are therefore seldom adopted from previous tuisdom, hut 
forced by the occasion. 

The governor of Pennsylvania, in sending it down to the 
Assembly, expressed his approbation of the plan, " as appear- 
ing to him to be drawn up with great clearness and strength 
of judgment, and therefore recommended it as well worthy of 
their closest and most serious attention." The House, how- 
ever, by the management of a certain member, took it up 
when I happened to be absent, which I thought not very fair, 
and reprobated it without paying any attention to it at all, to 
my no small mortification. 

In my journey to Boston this year, I met at 'New York with 
our new governor, Mr. Morris,® just arrived there from Eng- 
land, with whom I had been before intimately acquainted. 
He brought a commission to supersede Mr. Hamilton, who, 
tired with the disputes his proprietary instructions subjected 
him to, had resigned. Mr. Morris asked me if I thought he 
must expect as uncomfortable an administration. I said: 
^^No; you may, on the contrary, have a very comfortable 

^ This was Robert Hunter Morris, ert Morris of Revolutionary fame 
1700-1764, the son of the chief who was born in England, and was 
justice of New York, and himself just at this time entering the part- 
chief justice of New Jersey. He nership in which he made his fortune, 
must be distinguished from the Rob- 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 175 

one, if you will only take care not to enter into any dispute 
with the Assembly." " My dear friend," says he, pleasantly, 
"how can you advise my avoiding disputes? You know I 
love disputing; it is one of my greatest pleasures; however, 
to show the regard I have for your counsel, I promise you I 
will, if possible, avoid them." He had some reason for lov- 
ing to dispute, being eloquent, an acute sophister, and, there- 
fore, generally successful in argumentative conversation. He 
had been brought up to it from a boy, his father, as I have 
heard, accustoming his children to dispute with one another 
for his diversion, while sitting at table after dinner; but I 
think the practice was not wise ; for, in the course of my ob- 
servation, these disputing, contradicting, and confuting peo- 
ple are generally unfortunate in their affairs. They get 
victory sometimes, but they never get good-will, which would 
be of more use to them.'' We parted, he going to Phila- 
delphia, and I to Boston. 

In returning, I met at 'New York with the votes of the As- 
sembly, by which it appeared that, notwithstanding his prom- 
ise to me, he and the House were already in high contention ; 
and it was a continual battle between them as long as he 
retained the government.^ I had my share of it ; for, as soon 
as I got back to my seat in the Assembly, I was put on every 
committee for answering his speeches and messages, and by 
the committees always desired to make the drafts. Our an- 
swers, as well as his messages, were often tart, and sometimes 
indecently abusive; and, as he knew I wrote for the Assem- 
bly, one might have imagined that, when we met, we could 
hardly avoid cutting throats; but he was so good-natured a 
man that no personal difference between him and me was 
occasioned by the contest, and we often dined together. 

One afternoon, in the height of this public quarrel, we met 

'Franklin's prevailing idea. 

8 He was governor for a period of only about two years. 



176 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRAXKLIX 

in the street. " Franklin/' says he, " you must go home 
with me and spend the evening ; I am to have some company 
that you will like ; '^ and, taking me by the arm, he led me to 
his house. In gay conversation over our wine, after supper, 
he told us, jokingly, that he much admired the idea of Sancho 
Panza,^ who, when it was proposed to give him a government, 
requested it might be a government of blacks, as then, if he 
could not agree with his people, he might sell them. One of 
his friends, who sat next to me, says : '' Franklin, why do 
you continue to side with these damned Quakers? Had not 
you better sell them ? The proprietor would give you a good 
price." " The governor," says I, " has not yet hlachened them 
enough." He, indeed, had labored hard to blacken the As- 
sembly in all his messages, but they wiped off his coloring as 
fast as he laid it on, and placed it, in return, thick upon his 
own face; so that, finding he was likely to be negrofied him- 
self, he, as well as Mr. Hamilton, grew tired of the contest 
and quitted the government. 

These public quarrels ^ were all at bottom owing to the pro- 
prietaries, our hereditary governors, who, when any expense 
was to be incurred for the defense of their province, with in- 
credible meanness instructed their deputies to pass no act for 
levying the necessary taxes, unless their vast estates were in 
the same act expressly excused; and they had even taken 
bonds of these deputies to observe such instructions. The 
Assemblies for three years held out against this injustice, 
though constrained to bend at last. At length Captain Denny, 
who was Governor Morris's successor, ventured to disobey 
those instructions: how that was brought about I will show 
hereafter. 

" The well-known servant of Don ment of Pennsylvania settled the 

Quixote. matter by appropriating their public 

^ These disputes with the proprie- powers. The English government 

taries were not composed till the subsequently paid them "£4,000 

Revolutionary War, when the govern- yearly in recompense for their losses. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 177 

But I am got forward too fast with my story: there are 
still some transactions to be mentioned that happened during 
the administration of Governor Morris. 

War being in a manner commenced with France/ the gov- 
ernment of Massachusetts Bay projected an attack upon 
Crown Point, and sent Mr. Quincy ^ to Pennsylvania, and Mr. 
Pownall, afterward Governor Pownall, to New York, to solicit 
assistance. As I was in the Assembly, knew its temper, and 
was Mr. Quincy's countryman, he applied to me for my influ- 
ence and assistance. I dictated his address to them, which 
was well received. They voted an aid of ten thousand pounds, 
to be laid out in provisions. But the governor refusing his 
assent to their bill (which included this with other sums 
granted for the use of the crown), unless a clause were in- 
serted exempting the proprietary estate from bearing any part 
of the tax that would be necessary, the Assembly, though 
very desirous of making their grant to New England effectual, 
were at a loss how to accomplish it. Mr. Qunicy labored hard 
with the governor to obtain his assent, but he was obstinate. 

I then suggested a method of doing the business without 
the governor, by orders on the trustees of the Loan Ofhce,^ 
which, by law, the Assembly had the right of drawing. 
There was, indeed, little or no money at that time in the office, 
and therefore I proposed that the orders should be payable in 
a year, and to bear an interest of five per cent. With these 
orders I supposed the provisions might easily be purchased. 
The Assembly, with very little hesitation, adopted the pro- 
posal. The orders were immediately printed, and I was one 
of the committee directed to sign and dispose of them. The 

2 There had as yet been no declara- fend the British soldiers in the Bos- 

tion of war. ton massacre. 

^ Josiah Quincy, 1709-1784, though * The Loan Office was an institu- 

not a Bostonian, lived in the same tion in the province for the loaning 

general part of the colony. He was of money especially to intending set- 

a warm patriot and the father of the tiers, but also to others, in this case 

Josiah Quincy who volunteered to de- to the people at large. 



178 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

fund for paying them was the interest of all the paper cur- 
rency then extant in the province upon loan, together with 
the revenue arising from the excise, which being known to be 
more than sufficient, they obtained instant credit, and were 
not only received in payment for the provisions, but many 
moneyed people, who had cash lying by them, vested it in 
those orders, which they found advantageous, as they bore 
interest while upon hand, and might on any occasion be used 
as money; so that they were eagerly all bought up, and in a 
few weeks none of them were to be seen. Thus this important 
affair was by my means completed. Mr. Quincy returned 
thanks to the Assembly in a handsome memorial, went home 
highly pleased with the success of his embassy, and ever after 
bore for me the most cordial and affectionate friendship. 

The British government, not choosing to permit the union 
of the Colonies as proposed at Albany, and to trust that union 
with their defense, lest they should thereby grow too military, 
and feel their own strength, suspicions and jealousies at this 
time being entertained of them, sent over General Braddock 
with two regiments of regular English troops for that purpose. 
He landed at Alexandria, in Yirginia, and thence marched to 
Frederictown, in Maryland, where he halted for carriages. 
Our Assembly apprehending, from some information, that he 
had conceived violent prejudices against them, as averse to 
the service, wished me to wait upon him, not as from them, 
but as Postmaster-General, under the guise of proposing to 
settle with him the mode of conducting with most celerity 
and certainty the despatches between him and the governors 
of the several provinces, with whom he must necessarily have 
continual correspondence, and of which they proposed to ^^ay 
the expense. My son accompanied me on this journey. 

We found the general at Frederictown, waiting impatiently 
for the return of those he had sent through the back parts of 
Maryland and Virginia to collect wagons. I stayed with him 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEISTJAMIN FRANKLIN 179 

several days, dined with him daily, and had full opportu- 
nity of removing all his prejudices, by the information of 
what the Assembly had before his arrival actually done, and 
were still willing to do, to facilitate his operations. When I 
was about to depart, the returns of wagons to be obtained 
were brought in, by which it appeared that they amounted 
only to twenty-five, and not all of those were in serviceable 
condition. The general and all the officers were surprised, 
declared the expedition was then at an end, being impossible ; 
and exclaimed against the ministers for ignorantly landing 
them in a country destitute of the means of conveying their 
stores, baggage, etc., not less than one hundred and fifty 
wagons being necessary. 

I happened to say I thought it was pity they had not 
been landed rather in Pennsylvania, as in that country almost 
every farmer had his wagon. The general eagerly laid hold 
of my words, and said : " Then you, sir, who are a man of 
interest there, can probably procure them for us; and I beg 
you will undertake it.^' I asked what terms were to be ofiered 
the owners of the wagons; and I was desired to put on paper 
the terms that appeared to me necessary. This I did, and 
they were agreed to, and a commission and instructions ac- 
cordingly prepared immediately. What those terms were 
will appear in the advertisement I published as soon as I ar- 
rived at Lancaster,^ which being, ,from the great and sudden 
effect it produced, a piece of some curiosity, I shall insert it 
at length, as follows : 

" Advertisement. 

"Lancaster, April 26, 1755. 
" Whereas, one hundred and fifty wagons, with four horses 
to each wagon, and fifteen hundred saddle or pack horses, 

^ Lancaster is about 50 miles west of Philadelphia. 



180 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

are wanted for the service of his majesty's forces now about 
to rendezvous at Will's ^ Creek, and his excellency General 
Braddock, having been pleased to empower me to contract for 
the hire of the same, I hereby give notice that I shall attend 
for that purpose at Lancaster from this day to next Wednes- 
day evening, and at York from next Thursday morning till 
Friday evening, where I shall be ready to agree for wagons 
and teams, or single horses, on the following terms, viz. : 1. 
That there shall be paid for each wagon, with four good horses 
and a driver, fifteen shillings per diem ; and for each able horse 
with a pack-saddle, or other saddle and furniture, two shillings 
per diem; and for each able horse without a saddle, eighteen 
pence per diem. 2. That the pay commence from the time 
of their joining the forces at Will's Creek, which must be on 
or before the 20th of May ensuing, and that a reasonable al- 
lowance be paid over and above for the time necessary for 
their traveling to Will's Creek and home again after their 
discharge. 3. Each wagon and team, and every saddle or 
pack-horse, is to be valued by indifferent persons chosen be- 
tween me and the owner ; and in case of the loss of any wagon, 
team, or other horse in the service, the price according to such 
valuation is to be allowed and paid. 4. Seven days' pay is to 
be advanced and paid in hand by me to the owner of each 
wagon and team, or horse, at the time of contracting, if re- 
quired, and the remainder to be paid by General Braddock, or 
by the paymaster of the army, at the time of their discharge, 
or from time to time, as it shall be demanded. 5. No drivers 
of wagons, or persons taking care of the hired horses, are on 
any account to be called upon to do the duty of soldiers, or be 
otherwise employed than in conducting or taking care of their 
carriages or horses. 6. All oats, Indian corn, or other forage 
that wagons or horses bring to the camp, more than is ne- 
cessary for the subsistence of the horses, is to be taken for 

^Will's Creek flows into the Potomac near Fort Cumberland. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMII^ FRANKLIN 181 

the use of the army, and a reasonable price paid for the 
same. 

" XoTE. — My son, William Franklin/ is empowered to en- 
ter into like contracts with any person in Cumberland county. 

"B. Franklin." 

'*' To the Inhabitants of the Counties of Lancaster, York, and 
Cumberland, 

*^ Friends and Countrymen : 

"Being occasionally at the camp at Frederic a few days 
since, I found the general and officers extremely exasperated 
on account of their not being supplied with horses and car- 
riages, which had been expected from this province, as most 
able to furnish them; but, through the dissensions between 
our governor and Assembly, money had not been provided, 
nor any steps taken for that purpose. 

" It was proposed to send an armed force immediately into 
these counties, to seize as many of the best carriages and 
horses as should be wanted, and compel as many persons into 
the service as would be necessary to drive and take care of 
them. 

" I apprehended that the progress of British soldiers 
through these counties on such an occasion, especially con- 
sidering the temper they are in, and their resentment against 
us, would be attended with many and great inconveniences to 
the inhabitants, and therefore more willingly took the trouble 
of trying first what might be done by fair and equitable 
means. The people of these back counties have lately com- 
plained to the Assembly that a sufficient currency was want- 
ing; you have an opportunity of receiving and dividing 
among you a very considerable sum; for, if the service of 
this expedition should continue, as it is more than probable it 

^ William Franklin was at this time Clerk of the Assembly. 



182 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

will, for one hundred and twenty days, the hire of these 
wagons and horses will amount to upward of thirty thou- 
sand pounds, which will be paid you in silver and gold of the 
king's money. 

" The service will be light and easy, for the army will scarce 
march above twelve miles per day, and the wagons and bag- 
gage-horses, as they carry those things that are absolutely 
necessary to the welfare of the army, must march with the 
army, and no faster; and are, for the army's sake, always 
placed where they can be most secure, whether in a march or 
in a camp. 

" If you are really, as I believe you are, good and loyal sub- 
jects to his majesty, you may now do a most acceptable serv- 
ice, and make it easy to yourselves; for three or four or such 
as cannot separately spare from the business of the planta- 
tions a wagon and four horses and a driver, may do it to- 
gether, one furnishing the wagon, another one or two horses, 
and another the driver, and divide the pay proportionably 
between you ; but if you do not this service to your king and 
country voluntarily, when such good pay and reasonable 
terms are offered to you, your loyalty will be strongly sus- 
pected. The king's business must be done; so many brave 
troops, come so far for your defense, must not stand idle 
through your backwardness to do what may be reasonably 
expected from you; wagons and horses must be had; violent 
measures will probably be used, and you will be left to seek 
for a recompense where you can find it, and your case, per- 
haps, be little pitied or regarded. 

" I have no particular interest in this affair, as, except the 
satisfaction of endeavoring to do good, I shall have only my 
labor for my pains. If this method of obtaining the wagons 
and horses it not likely to succeed, I am obliged to send word 
to the general in fourteen days; and I suppose Sir John St. 
Clair, the hussar, with a body of soldiers, will immediately 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 183 

enter the province for the purpose, which I shall be sorry to 
hear, because I am very sincerely and truly your friend and 
well-wisher, 

"B. Franklin." 

I received of the general about eight hundred pounds, to be 
disbursed in advance-money to the wagon owners, etc.; but 
that sum being insufficient, I advanced upward of two hun- 
dred pounds more, and in two weeks the one hundred and 
fifty wagons, with two hundred and fifty-nine carrying horses, 
were on their march for the camp. The advertisement prom- 
ised payment according to the valuation, in case any wagon 
or horse should be lost. The owners, however, alleging they 
did not know General Braddock, or what dependence might 
be had on his promise, insisted on my bond for the perform- 
ance, which I accordingly gave them. 

While I was at the camp, supping one evening with the 
officers of Colonel Dunbar's regiment, he represented to me 
his concern for the subalterns, who, he said, were generally 
not in affluence, and could ill afiord, in this dear country, to 
lay in the stores that might be necessary in so long a march, 
through a wilderness, where nothing was to be purchased. 
I commiserated their case, and resolved to endeavor procur- 
ing them some relief I said nothing, however, to him of my 
intention, but wrote the next morning to the committee of 
the Assembly, who had the disposition of some public money, 
warmly recommending the case of these officers to their con- 
sideration, and proposing that a present should be sent them 
of necessaries and refreshments. My son, who had some ex- 
perience of a camp life, and of its wants, drew up a list for 
me, which I enclosed in my letter.. The committee approved, 
and used such diligence that, conducted by my son, the stores, 
arrived at the camp as soon as the wagons. They consisted 
of twenty parcels, each containing 



184 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

6 lbs. loaf sugar. 1 keg containing 20 lbs. good but- 

6 lbs. good Muscovado do. ter. 

1 lb. good green tea. 2 doz. old Madeira wine. 

1 lb. good boliea do. 2 gallons Jamaica spirits. 

lbs. good ground coflFee. 1 bottle flour of mustard. 
6 lbs. chocolate. 2 well-cured hams. 

% cwt. best white biscuit. i/g dozen dried tongues. 

1/2 lb. pepper. 6 lbs. rice. 

1 quart best white wine vinegar. 6 lbs. raisins. 
1 Gloucester cheese. 

These twenty parcels, well packed, were placed on as many 
horses, each parcel, with the horse, being intended as a present 
for one officer. They were very thankfully received, and the 
kindness acknowledged by letters to me from the colonels of 
both regiments, in the most grateful terms. The general, 
too, was highly satisfied with my conduct in procuring him 
the wagons, etc., and readily paid my account of disburse- 
ments, thanking me repeatedly, and requesting my farther 
assistance in sending provisions after him. I undertook this 
also, and was busily employed in it till we heard of his defeat, 
advancing for the service of my own money, upwards of one 
thousand pounds sterling, of which I sent him an account. 
It came to his hands, luckily for me, a few days before the 
battle,* and he returned me immediately an order on the 
paymaster for the round sum of one thousand pounds, leaving 
the remainder to the next account. I consider this payment 
as good luck, having never been able to obtain that remainder, 
of which more hereafter. 

This general was, I think, a brave man, and might probably 
have made a figure as a good officer in some European war. 
But he had too much self-confidence, too high an opinion of 
the validity of regular troops, and too mean a one of both 
Americans and Indians. George Croghan,^ our Indian in- 

^ The defeat of Braddock occurred * George Croghan was an Indian 

on July 9, 1755. trader of the better sort, popular 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 185 

terpreter, joined him on his march with one hundred of those 
people, who might have been of great use to his army as 
guides, scouts, etc., if he had treated them kindly; but he 
slighted and neglected them, and they gradually left him. 

In conversation with him one day, he was giving me some 
account of his intended progress. ^' After taking Fort Du- 
quesne," says he, " I am to proceed to Niagara; ^ and, having 
taken that, to Frontenac,^ if the season will allow time; and 
I suppose it will, for Duquesne can hardly detain me above 
three or four days ; and then I see nothing that can obstruct 
my march to Niagara." Having before revolved in my mind 
the lon^ line his army must make in their march by a very 
narrow road, to be cut for them through the woods and 
bushes, and also what I had read of a former defeat of fifteen 
hundred French, who invaded the Iroquois country, I had 
conceived some doubts and some fears for the event of the 
campaign. But I ventured only to say : " To be sure, sir, if 
you arrive well before Duquesne, with these fine troops, so 
well provided with artillery, that place, not yet completely 
fortified, and as we hear with no very strong garrison, can 
probably make but a short resistance. The only danger I 
apprehend of obstruction to your march is from ambuscades 
of Indians, who, by constant practice, are dexterous in laying 
and executing them; and the slender line, near four miles 
long, which your army must make, may expose it to be 
attacked by surprise in its flanks, and to be cut like a thread 
into several pieces, which, from their distance, cannot come 
up in time to support each other.'' 

He smiled at my ignorance, and replied : " These savages 
may, indeed, be a formidable enemy to your raw American 

among Indians and traders alike. He ran through the western country- 
brought fifty Indian warriors with from Quebec to St. Louis, 
him to Fort Cumberland. ^¥oTi Frontenac was on the Cana- 
1 Fort Niagara was one of the posts dian side of the St. Lawrence, near 



in 



the French line of forts which Lake Ontario. 



186 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

militia, but upon the king^s regular and disciplined troops, 
sir, it is impossible they should make any impression." I 
was conscious of an impropriety in my disputing with a 
military man in matters of his profession, and said no more. 
The enemy, however, did not take the advantage of his 
army which I apprehended its long line of march exposed it 
to, but let it advance without interruption till within nine 
miles of the place; and then, when more in a body (for it had 
just passed a river, where the front had halted till all had 
come over), and in a more open part of the woods than any 
it had passed, attacked its advance guard by a heavy fire from 
behind trees and bushes, which was the first intelligence the 
general had of an enemy's being near him. This guard being 
disordered, the general hurried the troops up to their assist- 
ance, which was done in great confusion, through wagons, 
baggage, and cattle; and presently the fire came upon their 
flank: the officers, being on horseback, were more easily 
distinguished, picked out as marks, and fell very fast; and 
the soldiers were crowded together in a huddle, having or 
hearing no orders, and standing to be shot at till two-thirds 
of them were killed; and then, being seized with a panic, 
the whole fled with precipitation. 

The wagoners took each a horse out of his team and scam- 
pered; their example was immediately followed by others; so 
that all the wagons, provisions, artillery, and stores were left 
to the enemy. The general, being wounded, was brought off 
with difficulty; his secretary, Mr. Shirley, was killed by his 
side; and out of eighty-six officers, sixty-three were killed or 
wounded, and seven hundred and fourteen men killed out of 
eleven hundred. These eleven hundred had been picked men 
from the whole army; the rest had been left behind with 
Colonel Dunbar, who was to follow with the heavier part of 
the stores, provisions, and baggage. The fliers, not being 
pursued, arrived at Dunbar's camp, and the panic they 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRAXKLIX 18? 

brought with them instantly seized him and all his people; 
and, though he had now above one thousand men, and the 
enemy who had beaten Braddock did not at most exceed four 
hundred Indians and French together, instead of proceeding, 
and endeavoring to recover some of the lost honor, he ordered 
all the stores, ammunition, etc., to be destroyed, that he 
might have more horses .to assist his flight towards the settle- 
ments, and less lumber to remove. He was there met with 
requests from the governors of Virginia, Maryland, and Penn- 
sylvania, that he would post his troops on the frontiers, so as 
to afford some protection to the inhabitants ; but he continued 
his hasty march through all the country, not thinking himself 
safe till he arrived at Philadelphia, where the inhabitants 
could protect him. This whole transaction gave us Americans 
the first suspicion that our exalted ideas of the prowess of 
British regulars had not been well founded. 

In their first march, too, from their landing till they got 
beyond the settlements, they had plundered and stripped the 
inhabitants, totally ruining some poor families, besides insult- 
ing, abusing, and confining the people if they remonstrated. 
This was enough to put us out of conceit of such defenders, if 
we had really wanted any. How different was the conduct of 
our French friends in 1781, who, during a march through the 
most inhabited part of our country from Ehode Island to Vir- 
ginia, near seven hundred miles, occasioned not the smallest 
complaint for the loss of a pig, a chicken, or even an apple. 

Captain Orme, who was- one of the general's aids-de-camp, 
and, being grievously wounded, was brought off with him, 
and continued with him to his death, which happened in a 
few days, told me that he was totally silent all the first day, 
and at night only said : " TT/io would have thought it ? " That 
he was silent again the following day, saying only at last: 
" We shall better know how to deal with them another time"; 
and died in a few minutes after. 



188 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

The secretary's papers, with all the general's orders, instruc- 
tions, and correspondence, falling into the enemy's hands, 
they selected and translated into French a number of the 
articles, which they printed, to prove the hostile intentions of 
the British court before the declaration of war.^ Among these 
I saw some letters of the general to the ministry, speaking 
highly of the great service I had rendered the army, and 
recommending me to this notice. David Hume,* too, who 
was some years after secretary to Lord Hertford, when minis- 
ter in France, and afterward to General Conway, when secre- 
tary of state, told me he had seen among the papers in that 
office letters from Braddock highly recommending me. But, 
the expedition having been unfortunate, my service, it seems, 
was not thought of much value, for those recommendations 
were never of any use to me. 

As to rewards from himself, I asked only one, which was, 
that he would give orders to his officers not to enlist any 
more of our bought servants, and that he would discharge 
such as had been already enlisted. This he readily granted, 
and several were accordingly returned to their masters, on my 
application. Dunbar, when the command devolved on him, 
was not so generous. He being at Philadelphia, on his 
retreat, or rather flight, I applied to him for the discharge of 
the servants of three poor farmers of Lancaster County that 
he had enlisted, reminding him of the late general's orders on 
that head. He promised me that, if the masters would come 
to him at Trenton, where he should be in a few days on his 
march to New York, he would there deliver their men to 
them. They accordingly were at the expense and trouble of 
going to Trenton, and there he refused to perform his promise, 
to their great loss and disappointment. 

^ The expedition of Braddock had Fort Duquesne was an invasion of 

been undertaken when France and British territory. 

England were still at peace, on the * David Hume, 1711-1776, was a 

ground that the French building of famous historian and philosopher. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 189 

As soon as the loss of the wagons and horses was gener- 
ally known, all the owners came upon me for the valuation 
which I had given bond to pay. Their demands gave me a 
great deal of trouble, my acquainting them that the money 
was ready in the paymaster's hands, but that orders for pay- 
ing it must first be obtained from General Shirley, and my 
assuring them that I had applied to that general by letter; 
but, he being at a distance, an answer could not soon be re- 
ceived, and they must have patience, all this was not sufficient 
to satisfy, and some began to sue me. General Shirley at 
length relieved me from this terrible situation by appointing 
commissioners to examine the claims, and ordering payment. 
They amounted to near twenty thousand pounds, which to pay 
would have ruined me. 

Before we had the news of this defeat, the two Doctors Bond 
came to me with a subscription paper for raising money to 
defray the expense of a grand firework, which it was intended 
to exhibit at a rejoicing on receipt of the news of our taking 
Fort Duquesne. I looked grave, and said it would, I thought, 
be time enough to prepare for the rejoicing when we knew we 
should have occasion to rejoice. They seemed surprised that 
I did not immediately comply with their proposal. " Why 
the d — 1 ! ^' says one of them, " you surely don't suppose that 
the fort will not be taken ? '' "I don't know that it will not 
be taken, but I know that the events of war are subject to 
great uncertainty." I gave them the reasons of my doubting ; 
the subscription was dropped, and the projectors thereby 
missed the mortification they would have undergone if the 
firework had been prepared. Doctor Bond, on some other 
occasion afterward, said that he did not like Franklin's fore- 
bodings. 

Governor Morris, who had continually worried the Assembly 
with message after message before the defeat of Braddock, to 
beat them into the making of acts to raise money for the de- 



190 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

fense of the province, without taxing, among others, the pro- 
prietary estates, and had rejected all their bills for not having 
such an exempting clause, now redoubled his attacks with 
more hope of success, the danger and necessity being greater. 
The Assembly, however, continued lirm, believing they had 
justice on their side, and that it would be giving up an essen- 
tial right if they suffered the governor to amend their money- 
bills. In one of the last, indeed, which was for gi-anting fifty 
thousand pounds, his proposed amendment was only of a 
single word. The bill expressed " that all estates, real and 
personal, were to be taxed, those of the proprietaries not ex- 
cepted/' His amendment was, for not read only: a small, but 
very material alteration. However, when the news of this 
disaster reached England, our friends there, whom we had 
taken care to furnish with all the Assembly's answers to the 
governor's messages, raised a clamor against the proprietaries 
for their meanness and injustice in giving their governor such 
instructions; some going so far as to say that, by obstructing 
the defense of their province, they forfeited their right to it. 
They were intimidated by this, and sent orders to their Ee- 
ceiver-General to add five thousand pounds of their money to 
whatever sum might be given by the Assembly for such pur- 
pose. 

This, being notified to the House, was accepted in lieu of 
their share of a general tax, and a new bill was formed, with 
an exempting clause, which passed accordingly. By this act 
I was appointed one of the commissioners for disposing of the 
money, sixty thousand pounds. I had been active in model- 
ing the bill and procuring its passage, and had, at the same 
time, drawn a bill for establishing and disciplining a volun- 
tary militia, which I carried through the House without much 
difficulty, as care was taken in it to leave the Quakers at their 
liberty. To promote the association necessary to form the 
militia, I wrote a dialogue, stating and answering all the ob- 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 191 

jections I could think of to such a militia, which was printed, 
and had, as I thought, great effect. 

While the several companies in the city and country were 
forming, and learning their exercise, the governor prevailed 
with me to take charge of our Northwestern frontier, which 
was infested by the enemy, and provide for the defense of the 
inhabitants by raising troops and building a line of forts. I 
undertook this military business, though I did not conceive 
myself well qualified for it. He gave me a commission with 
full powers, and a parcel of blank commissions for officers, to 
be given to whom I thought fit. I had but little difficulty in 
raising men, having soon five hundred and sixty under my 
command. My son, who had in the preceding war been an 
officer in the army raised against Canada, was my aid-de- 
camp, and of great use to me. The Indians had burned 
Gnadenhut, a village settled by the Moravians,^ and massacred 
the inhabitants; but the place was thought a good situation 
for one of the forts. 

In order to march thither, I assembled the companies at 
Bethlehem, the chief establishment of those people. I was 
surprised to find it in so good a posture of defense; the de- 
struction of Gnadenhut had made them apprehend danger. 
The principal buildings were defended by a stockade; they 
had purchased a quantity of arms and ammunition from New 
York, and had even placed quantities of small paving-stones 
between the windows of their high stone houses, for their 
women to throw down upon the heads of any Indians that 
should attempt to force into them. The armed brethren, too, 
kept watch, and relieved as methodically as in any garrison 

^ The Moravians had done more sylvania. They were one of a num- 

effective missionary work among the ber of German religious bodies in 

Indians than any other Christian Pennsylvania, who had a more or less 

body, and had settled a number of communistic form of government. 
Christian Indians at places in Penn- 



192 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

town. In conversation with the bishop, Spangenberg, I 
mentioned this my surprise; for, knowing they had obtained 
an act of Parliament exempting them from military duties in 
the colonies, I had supposed they were conscientiously scru- 
pulous of bearing arms. He answered me that it was not one 
of their established principles, but that, at the time of their 
obtaining that act, it was thought to be a principle with many 
of their people. On this occasion, however, they, to their 
surprise, found it adopted by but a few. It seems they were 
either deceived in themselves, or deceived the Parliament; 
but common sense, aided by present danger, will sometimes 
be too strong for whimsical opinions. 

It was the beginning of January when we set out upon this 
business of building forts. I sent one detachment toward the 
Minisink, with instructions to erect one for the security of 
that upper part of the country, and another to the lower part, 
with similar instructions ; and I concluded to go myself with 
the rest of my force to Gnadenhut, where a fort was thought 
more immediately necessary. The Moravians procured me 
five wagons for our tools, stores, baggage, etc. 

Just before we left Bethlehem, eleven farmers, who had 
been driven from their plantations by the Indians, came to 
me requesting a supply of firearms, that they might go back 
and fetch off their cattle. I gave them each a gun with suit- 
able ammunition. We had not marched many miles before it 
began to rain, and it continued raining all day ; there were no 
habitations on the road to shelter us, till we arrived near 
night at the house of a German, where, and in his barn, we 
were all huddled together, as wet as water could make us. It 
was well we were not attacked in our march, for our arms 
were of the most ordinary sort, and our men could not 
keep their gun-locks dry. The Indians are dexterous in con- 
trivances for that purpose, which we had not. They met that 
day the eleven poor farmers above mentioned, and killed ten 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 193 

of them. The one who escaped informed that his and his 
companions' guns would not go off, the priming being wet 
with the rain. 

The next day being fair, we continued our march, and ar- 
rived at the desolated Gnadenhut. There was a saw-mill near, 
round which were left several piles of boards, with which 
we soon hutted ourselves; an operation the more necessary 
at that inclement season, as we had no tents. Our first work 
was to bury more effectually the dead we found there, who 
had been half interred by the country people. 

The next morning our fort was planned and marked out, 
the circumference measuring four hundred and fifty-five feet, 
which would require as many palisades to be made of trees, 
one with another, of a foot diameter each. Our axes, of 
which we had seventy, were immediately set to work to cut 
down trees, and, our men being dexterous in the use of them, 
great despatch was made. Seeing the trees fall so fast, I had 
the curiosity to look at my watch when two men began to cut 
at a pine ; in six minutes they had it upon the ground, and I 
found it of fourteen inches diameter. Each pine made three 
palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end. While 
these were preparing, our other men dug a trench all round, 
of three feet deep, in which the palisades were to be planted ; 
and, our wagons, the bodies being taken off, and the fore and 
hind wheels separated by taking out the pin which united the 
two parts of the perch, we had ten carriages, with two horses 
each, to bring the palisades from the woods to the spot. When 
they were set up, our carpenters built a stage of boards all 
round within, about six feet high, for the men to stand on 
when to fire through the loopholes. We had one swivel gun, 
which we mounted on one of the angles, and fired it as soon 
as fixed, to let the Indians know, if any were within hearing, 
that we had such pieces ; and thus our fort, if such a magnifi- 
cent name may be given to so miserable a stockade, was fin- 



194 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIX 

ished in a week, though it rained so hard every other day that 
the men could not work. 

This gave me occasion to observe, that, when men are em- 
ployed, they are best contented; for on the days they worked 
they were good-natured and cheerful, and, with the con- 
sciousness of having done a good day's work, they spent the 
evening jollily ; but on our idle days they were mutinous and 
quarrelsome, finding fault with their pork, the bread, etc., 
and in continual ill-humor, which put me in mind of a sea- 
captain, whose rule it was to keep his men constantly at work ; 
and, when his mate once told him that they had done every- 
thing, and there was nothing further to employ them about, 
" Oh," says he, '' make them scour the anchor.'' 

This kind of fort, however contemptible, is a sufficient de- 
fense against Indians, who have no cannon. Finding our- 
selves now posted securel}^ and having a place to retreat to 
on occasion, we ventured out in parties to scour the adjacent 
country. We met with no Indians, but we found the places 
on the neighboring hills where they had lain to watch our 
proceeding. There was an art in their contrivances of those 
places that seems worth mention. It being winter, a fire was 
necessary for them; but a common fire on the surface of the 
ground would by its light have discovered their position at a 
distance. They had therefore dug holes in the ground about 
three feet diameter, and somewhat deeper; we saw where 
they had with their hatchets cut off the charcoal from the 
sides of burnt logs lying in the woods. With these coals they 
had made small fires in the bottom of the holes, and we ob- 
served among the weeds and grass the prints of their bodies, 
made by their lying all round, with their legs hanging down 
in the holes to keep their feet warm, which, with them, is an 
essential point. This kind of fire, so managed, could not dis- 
cover them, either by its light, flame, sparks, or even smoke ; 
it appeared that their number was not great, and it seems 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 195 

they saw we were too many to be attacked by them with pros- 
pect of advantage. 

We had for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian minister, 
Mr. Beatty, who complained to me that the men did not gen- 
erally attend his prayers and exhortations. When they en- 
listed, they were promised, besides pay and provisions, a gill of 
rum a day, which was punctually served out to them, half in 
the morning, and the other half in the evening; and I ob- 
served they were as punctual in attending to receive it ; upon 
which I said to Mr. Beatty : " It is, perhaps, below the dig- 
nity of your profession to act as steward of the rum, but if 
you were to deal it out and only just after prayers, you would 
have them all about you." He liked the thought, undertook 
the office, and, with the help of a few hands to measure out 
the liquor, executed it to satisfaction, and never were prayers 
more generally and more punctually attended; so that I 
thought this method preferable to the punishment inflicted bv 
some military laws for non-attendance on divine service. 

I had hardly finished this business, and got my fort well 
stored with provisions, when I received a letter from the gov- 
ernor, acquainting me that he had called the Assembly, and 
wished my attendance there, if the posture of affairs on the 
frontiers was such that my remaining there was no longer 
necessary. My friends, too, of the Assembly, pressing me by 
their letters to be, if possible, at the meeting, and my three 
intended forts being now completed, and the inhabitants con- 
tented to remain on their farms under that protection, I re- 
solved to return ; the more willingly, as a New England offiqer. 
Colonel Clapham, experienced in Indian war, being on a visit 
to our establishment, consented to accept the command. I 
gave him a commission, and, parading the garrison, had it 
read before them, and introduced him to them as an officer 
who, from his skill in military affairs, was much more fit to 
command them than myself; and, giving them a little exhor- 



196 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

tation, took my leave. I was escorted as far as Bethlehem, 
where I rested a few days to recover from the fatigue I had 
undergone. The first night, being in a good bed, I could 
hardly sleep, it was so different from my hard lodging on the 
floor of our hut at Gnaden wrapped only in a blanket or two. 

While at Bethlehem, I inquired a little into the practice of 
the Moravians: some of them had accompanied me, and all 
were very kind to me. I found they worked for a common 
stock, ate at common tables, and slept in common dormitories, 
great numbers together. In the dormitories I observed loop- 
holes, at certain distances all along just under the ceiling, 
which I thought judiciously placed for change of air. I was 
at their church, where I was entertained with good music, 
the organ being accompanied with violins, hautboys, flutes, 
clarinets, etc. I understood that their sermons were not 
usually preached to mixed congregations of men, women, and 
children, as is our common practice, but that they assembled 
sometimes the married men, at other times their wives, then 
the young men, the young women, and the little children, each 
division by itself. The sermon I heard was to the latter, who 
came in and were placed in rows on benches ; the boys under 
the conduct of a young man, their tutor, and the girls con- 
ducted by a young woman. The discourse seemed well 
adapted to their capacities, and was delivered in a pleasing, 
familiar manner, coaxing them, as it were, to be good. They 
behaved very orderly, but looked pale and unhealthy, which 
made me suspect they were kept too much within doors, or 
not allowed sufficient exercise. 

I inquired concerning the Moravian marriages, whether the 
report was true that they were by lot. I was told that lots 
were used only in particular cases; that generally, when a 
young man found himself disposed to marry, he informed the 
elders of his class, who consulted the elder ladies that gov- 
erned tlie young women. As these elders of the different 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIJ^' FRANKLIX 197 

sexes were well acquainted with the tempers and dispositions 
of their respective pupils, they could best judge what matches 
were suitable, and their judgments were generally acquiesced 
in; but if, for example, it should happen that two or three 
young women were found to be equally proper for the young 
man, the lot was then recurred to. I objected, if the matches 
are not made by the mutual choice of the parties, some of 
them may chance to be very unhappy. " And so they may," 
answered my informer, " if you let the parties choose for 
themselves ; " which, indeed, I could not deny. 

Being returned to Philadelphia, I found the association 
went on swimmingly, the inhabitants that were not Quakers 
having pretty generally come into it, formed themselves into 
companies, and chose their captains, lieutenants, and ensigns, 
according to the new law. Dr. B. visited me, and gave me an 
account of the pains he had taken to spread a general good 
liking to the law, and ascribed much to those endeavors. I 
had had the vanity to ascribe all to my Dialogue; however, 
not knowing but that he might be in the right, I let him enjoy 
his opinion, which I take to be generally the best way in such 
cases. The officers, meeting, chose me to be colonel of the 
regiment, which I this time accepted. I forget how many 
companies we had, but we paraded about twelve hundred 
well-looking men, with a company of artillery, who had been 
furnished with six brass field-pieces, which they had become 
so expert in the use of as to fire twelve times in a minute. 
The first time I reviewed my regiment they accompanied me to 
my house, and would salute me with some rounds fired before 
my door, which shook down and broke several glasses of my 
electrical apparatus. And my new honor proved not much 
less brittle; for all our commissions were soon after broken 
by a repeal of the law in England. 

During this short time of my colonelship, being about to set 
out on a journey to Virginia, the officers of my regiment took 



198 THE AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF BENJAMIX FRANKLIX 

it into their heads that it would be proper for them to escort 
me out of town, as far as the Lower Ferry. Just as I was 
getting on horseback they came to my door, between thirty 
and forty, mounted, and all in their uniforms. I had not 
been previously acquainted with the project, or I should have 
prevented it, being naturally averse to the assuming of stale 
on any occasion; and I was a good deal chagrined at their 
appearance, as I could not avoid their accompanying me. 
What made it worse was, that, as soon as we began to move, 
they drew their swords and rode Avith them naked all the way. 
Somebody wrote an account of this to the proprietor, and it 
gave him great offense. No such honor had been paid him 
when in the province, nor to any of his governors; and he 
said it was only proper to princes of the blood-royal, which 
may be true for aught I know, who was, and still am, ignorant 
of the etiquette in such cases. 

This silly affair, however, greatly increased his rancor 
against me, which was before not a little, on account of my 
conduct in the Assembly respecting the exemption of his 
estate from taxation, which I had always opposed very warmly, 
and not without severe reflections on his meanness and injus- 
tice of contending for it. He accused me to the ministry as 
being the great obstacle to the king's service, preventing, by 
my influence in the House, the proper form of the bill for 
raising money, and he instanced this parade with my officers 
as a proof of my having an intention to take the government 
of the province out of his hands by force. He also applied to 
Sir Everard Fawkener, the Postmaster-General, to deprive 
me of my office; but it had no other effect than to procure 
from Sir Everard a gentle admonition. 

Notwithstanding the continual wrangle between the gover- 
nor and the House, in which I as a member, had so large a 
share, there still subsisted a civil intercourse between tliat 
gentleman and myself, and we never had any personal difrer- 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 199 

ence. I have sometimes since thought that his little or no 
resentment against me, for the answers it was known I drew 
up to his messages, might be the effect of professional 
habit, and that, being bred a lawyer, he might consider us 
both as merely advocates for contending clients in a suit, he 
for the proprietaries and I for the Assembly. He would 
therefore, sometimes call in a friendly way to advise with me 
on difficult points, and sometimes, though not often, take my 
advice. 

We acted in concert to supply Braddock's army with pro- 
visions; and, when the shocking news arrived of his defeat, 
the governor sent in haste for me, to consult with him on 
measures for preventing the desertion of the back counties. 
I forget now the advice I gave; but I think it was, that 
Dunbar ^ should be written to, and prevailed with, if possible, 
to post his troops on the frontiers for their protection, till, by 
reenforcements from the Colonies, he might be able to proceed 
on the expedition. And, after my return from the frontier, 
he would have had me undertake the conduct of such an 
expedition with provincial troops, for the reduction of Fort 
Duquesne, Dunbar and his men being otherwise employed; 
and he proposed to commission me as general."^ I had not so 
good an opinion of my military abilities as he professed to 
have, and I believe his professions must have exceeded his 
real sentiments; but probably he might think that my popu- 
larity would facilitate the raising of the men, and my influence 
in Assembly, the grant of money to pay them, and that, per- 
haps, without taxing the proprietary estate. Finding me not 

6 Col. Dunbar had been left behind He presumably would not have 

by Braddock at Long Meadow (p. made one great mistake of that ofii- 

186) and with him the remains of cer in not paying sufficient attention 

the English expedition had rendez- to the advice of the provincial officers 

voused. like George Washington, who under- 

^ It is interesting to imagine what stood the circumstances better than 

Franklin would have done if comman- those trained in the schools of foreign 

der of an expedition like Braddocks. war. 



300 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIX FRAXKLIX 

SO forward to engage as he expected, the project was dropped, 
and he soon after left the government, being superseded by 
Captain Denny. 

Before I proceed in relating the part I had in public affairs 
under this new governor's administration, it may not be amiss 
here to give some account of the rise and progress of my 
philosophical reputation. 

In 1746, being at Boston, I met there with a Dr. Spence,^ 
who was lately arrived from Scotland, and showed me some 
electric experiments. They were imperfectly performed, as he 
was not very expert ; but, being on a subject quite new to me, 
they equally surprised and pleased me. Soon after my return 
to Philadelphia, our library company received from Mr. P. 
Collinson, Fellow of the Eoyal Society of London, a present of 
a glass tube, with some account of the use of it in making 
such experiments.^ I eagerly seized the opportunity of repeat- 
ing what I had seen at Boston; and, by much practice, ac- 
quired great readiness in performing those, also, which w^e 
had an account of from England, adding a number of new 
ones. I say much practice, for my house was continually 
full, for some time, with people who came to see these new 
wonders. 

To divide a little this incumbrance among my friends, I 
caused a number of similar tubes to be blown at our glass- 
house, with which they furnished themselves, so that we had 
at length several performers. Among these, the principal 
was Mr. Kinnersley, an ingenious ^ neighbor, who, being out 
of business, I encouraged to undertake showing the experi- 
ments for money, and drew up for him two lectures, in which 
the experiments were ranged in such order, and accompanied 

^ Dr. Spence was one of the sev- bought for the Library Company, to 

eral experimenters in electricity at add any articles of scientific interest 

this time. that he thought his American cor- 

° It was Mr. Collinson's custom in respondents would like to see. 

sending over the books which he ^ See p. 88, note. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRAXKLIX 201 

with such explanations in such method, as that the foregoing 
should assist in comprehending the following. He procured 
an elegant apparatus for the purpose, in which all the little 
machines that I had roughly made for myself were nicely 
formed by instrument-makers. His lectures were well at- 
tended, and gave great satisfaction; and after some time he 
went through the Colonies, exhibiting them in every capital 
town, and picked up some money. In the West India islands, 
indeed, it was with difficulty the experiments could be made, 
from the general moisture of the air. 

Obliged as we were to Mr. Collinson for his present of the 
tube, etc., I thought it right he should be informed of our 
success in using it, and wrote him several letters containing 
accounts of our experiments. He got them read in the Royal 
Society, where they were not at first thought worth so much 
notice as to be printed in their Transactions. One paper, 
which I wrote for Mr. Kinnersley, on the sameness of light- 
ning with electricity, I sent to Dr. Mitchel, an acquaintance 
of mine, and one of the members also of that society, who 
wrote me word that it had been read, but was laughed at by 
the connoisseurs.^ The papers, however, being shown to Dr. 
Fothergill,^ he thought them of too much value to be stifled, 
and advised the printing of them. Mr. Collinson then gave 
them to Cave * for publication in his Gentleman s Magazine; 
but he chose to print them separately in a pamphlet, and 
Dr. Fothergill wrote the preface. Cave, it seems, judged 
rightly for his profit, for by the additions that arrived after- 
ward, they swelled to a quarto volume, which has had five 
editions, and cost him nothing for copy-money. 

2 This word, like "virtuosi," ^ See p. 168 and note, 
which is now commonly applied only * Edmund Cave, 1691-1754, a well- 
to persons interested in the fine arts, known book seller and publisher of 
was in the 18th century commonly London. The Gentleman's Magazine 
used for those interested in the nat- is one of the oldest of modern period- 
ural sciences. icals. 



202 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

It was, however, some time before those papers were much 
taken notice of in England. A copy of them happening to 
fall into the hands of the Count de Buffon,^ a philosopher 
deservedly of great reputation in France, and, indeed, all 
over Europe, he prevailed with M. Dalibard to translate them 
into French, and they were printed at Paris. The publication 
offended the Abbe Xollet,^ preceptor in Natural Philosophy to 
the royal family, and an able experimenter, who had formed 
and published a theory of electricity, which then had the gen- 
eral vogue. He could not at first believe that such a work 
came from America, and said it must have been fabricated by 
his enemies at Paris, to decry his system. Afterwards, hav- 
ing been assured that there really existed such a person as 
Franklin at Philadelphia, which he had doubted, he wrote 
and published a volume of Letters, chiefly addressed to me, 
defending his theory, and denying the verity of my experi- 
ments, and of the positions deduced from them. 

I once purposed answering the abbe, and actually began the 
answer; but, on consideration that my writings contained a 
description of experiments which anyone might repeat and 
verify, and if not to be verified, could not be defended; or 
if observations offered as conjectures, and not delivered dog- 
matically, therefore not laying me under any obligation to 
defend them; and reflecting that a dispute between two per- 
sons, writing in different languages, might be lengthened 
greatly by mistranslations, and thence misconceptions of one 
another's meaning, much of one of the abbe's letters being 
founded on an error in the translation, I concluded to let my 

s Buffon, 1707-1788, one of the « This gentleman had already called 
most distinguished of the French men attention to the similarity of elec- 
of science of the day, best remem- tricity and the electrical spark to 
hered now for his enormous ' ' His- lightning and thunder, but he had 
toire Xaturelle," a general and par- explained his assumptions by a theory 
ticular account of all that would now of electricity different from Frank- 
He included under the head of natural lin's. 
si-ieiue. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 203 

papers shift for themselves, believing it was better to spend 
what time I could spare from public business in making new 
experiments, than in disputing about those already made. I 
therefore never answered M. Nollet, and the event gave me 
no cause to repent my silence; for my friend M. le Eoy, of 
the Eoyal Academy of Sciences, took up my cause and refuted 
him; my book was translated into the Italian, German, and 
Latin languages; and the doctrine it contained was by de- 
grees universally adopted by the philosophers of Europe, in 
preference to that of the abbe ; so that he lived to see himself 

the last of his sect, except Monsieur B , of Paris, his 

eUve and immediate disciple. 

What gave my book the more sudden and general celebrity, 
was the success of one of its proposed experiments, made by 
Messrs. Dalibard and De Lor at Marly, for drawing lightning 
from the clouds. This engaged the public attention every- 
where. M. de Lor, who had an apparatus for experimental 
philosophy, and lectured in that branch of science, undertook 
to repeat what he called the Philadelphia Experiments; and, 
after they were performed before the king and court, all the 
curious of Paris flocked to see them. I will not swell this nar- 
rative with an account of that capital experiment, nor of the 
infinite pleasure I received in the success of a similar one I 
made soon after with a kite at Philadelphia, as both are to be 
found in the histories of electricity.'^ 

Dr. Wright, an English physician, when at Paris, wrote to 
a friend, who was of the Eoyal Society,^ an account of the high 
esteem my experiments were in among the learned abroad, 
and of their wonder that my writings had been so little no- 
ticed in England. The society, on this, resumed the consid- 

"^ One might almost say that it was Natural Knowledge was founded in 

by this experiment that Franklin be- 1660 and continues to-day to be the 

came famous over the civilized world. representative of scientific study in 

* The Royal Society for Improving England. 



204: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

eration of the letters that had been read to them; and the 
celebrated Dr. Watson ^ drew up a summary account of them, 
and of all I had afterwards sent to England on the subject, 
which he accompanied with some praise of the writer. This 
summary was then printed in their Transactions; and some 
members of the society in London, particularly the very in- 
genious Mr. Canton,^ having verified the experiment of procur- 
ing lightning from the clouds by a pointed rod, and acquaint- 
ing them with the success, they soon made me more than 
amends for the slight with which they had before treated me. 
Without my having made any application for that honor, they 
chose me a member, and voted that I should be excused the 
customary payments, which would have amounted to twenty- 
five guineas ; and ever since have given me their Transactions 
gratis. They also presented me with the gold medal of Sir 
Godfrey Copley ^ for the year 1753, the delivery of which was 
accompanied by a very handsome speech of the president. 
Lord Macclesfield,^ wherein I was highly honored. 

Our new governor. Captain Denn}^,* brought over for me the 
before-mentioned medal from the Eoyal Society, which he 
presented to me at an entertainment given him by the city. 
He accompanied it with very polite expressions of his esteem 
for me, having, as he said, been long acquainted with my 

^Dr., afterward Sir William Wat- of Sir Hans Sloane (p. 76, note) 

son, 1715-1781, was a distinguished who, at his death in 1709, bequeathed 

student of the time. He was at just £100 annually in trust for the Royal 

this time the most active person in Society. 

England in the field of electrical sci- ^ George Parker, second Lord Mac- 

ence, and had himself in 1745 re- clesfield, 1697-1764, was an astron- 

ceived the Copley Medal. His theory omer of note, chiefly influential in 

of electricity was much the same as changing the calendar from O. S. to 

Franklin's. N. S. (p. 30, note). 

1 John Canton, 1718-1772, was the * William Denny was a scholarly 

first Englishman to repeat and verify man of the world, who, if he had not 

Franklin's experiments. He was at been bound by his instructions to 

this time a Fellow of the Royal disagree with the Assembly on an 

Society. important point, would have made a 

* Sir Godfrey Copley was a friend good and popular governor. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 205 

character. After dinner, when the company, as was custom- 
ary at that time, were engaged in drinking, he took me aside 
into another room, and acquainted me that he had been ad- 
vised by his friends in England to cultivate a friendship with 
me, as one who was capable of giving him the best advice, 
and of contributing most effectually to the making his admin- 
istration easy ; that he therefore desired of all things to have 
a good understanding with me, and he begged me to be as- 
sured of his readiness on all occasions to render me every 
service that might be in his power. He said much to me, 
also, of the proprietor's good disposition towards the province, 
and of the advantage it might be to us all, and to me in par- 
ticular, if the opposition that had been so long continued to 
his measures was dropped, and harmony restored between him 
and the people; in effecting which, it was thought no one 
could be more serviceable than myself; and I might depend 
on adequate acknowledgments and recompenses, etc., etc. 
The drinkers, finding we did not return immediately to the 
table, sent us a decanter of Madeira, which the governor 
made liberal use of, and in proportion became more profuse 
of his solicitations and promises. 

My answers were to this purpose: that my circumstances, 
thanks to God, were such as to make proprietary favors un- 
necessary to me; and that, being a member of the Assembly, 
I could not possibly accept of any; that, however, I had no 
personal enmity to the proprietary, and that, whenever the 
public measures he proposed should appear to be for the good 
of the people, no one should espouse and forward them more 
zealously than myself; my past opposition having been 
founded on this, that the measures which had been urged 
were evidently intended to serve the proprietary interest, with 
great prejudice to that of the people; that I was much 
obliged to him (the governor) for his professions of regard to 
me, and that he might rely on everything in my power to 



206 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIX FRAXKLIN 

make his administration as easy as possible, hoping at the 
same time that he had not brought with him the same unfor- 
tunate instruction his predecessor had been hampered with.^ 

On this he did not then explain himself; but when he af- 
terwards came to do business with the Assembly, they ^ ap- 
peared again, the disputes were renewed, and I was as active 
as ever in the opposition, being the penman, first, of the 
request to have a communication of the instructions, and then 
of the remarks upon them, which may be found in the votes 
of the time, and in the Historical Eeview I afterward pub- 
lished. But between us personally no enmity arose; we were 
often together; he was a man of letters, had seen much of 
the world, and was very entertaining and pleasing in conver- 
sation. He gave me the first information that my old friend 
Jas. Ralph was still alive; that he was esteemed one of the 
best political writers in England; had been employed in the 
dispute between Prince Frederic ^ and the king, and had ob- 
tained a pension of three hundred a year ; that his reputation 
was indeed small as a poet, Pope having damned his poetry in 
the Dunciad ; ^ but his prose was thought as good as any 
man's. 

The Assembly finally finding the proprietary obstinately 
persisted in manacling their deputies with instructions incon- 
sistent not only with the privileges of the people, but with the 
service of the crown, resolved to petition the king against 
them, and appointed me their agent to go over to England, to 
present and support the petition. The House had sent up a 
bill to the governor, granting a sum of sixty thousand pounds 
for the king's use (ten thousand pounds of which was sub- 
jected to the orders of the then general, Lord Loudon), 

^ i. e., that they should not consent Wales; he did not live, however, to 

to the taxing the proprietary estates. succeed his father. 

* their instructions. ^ ^g remarked on p. 71. 

^ Prince Frederic, then Prince of 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 207 

which the governor absolutely refused to pass, in compliance 
with his instructions. 

I had agreed with Captain Morris, of the packet at New 
York, for my passage, and my stores ^ were put on board, when 
Lord Loudon arrived at Philadelphia, expressly, as he told 
me, to endeavor an accommodation between the governor and 
Assembly, that his majesty's service might not be obstructed 
by their dissensions. Accordingly, he desired the governor 
and myself to meet him, that he might hear what was to be 
said on both sides. We met and discussed the business. In 
behalf of the Assembly, I urged all the various arguments 
that may be found in the public papers of that time, which 
were of my writing, and are printed with the minutes of the 
Assembly; and the governor pleaded his instructions; the 
bond he had given to observe them, and his ruin if he dis- 
obeyed, yet seemed not unwilling to hazard himself if Lord 
Loudon ^ would advise it. This his lordship did not choose to 
do, though I once thought I had nearly prevailed with him 
to do it; but finally he ratlier chose to urge the compliance 
of the Assembly; and he entreated me to use my endeavors 
with them for that purpose, declaring that he would spare 
none of the king's troops for the defense of our frontiers, and 
that, if we did not continue to provide for that defense our- 
selves, they must remain exposed to the enemy. 

I acquainted the House with what had passed, and, present- 
ing them with a set of resolutions I had drawn up, declaring 
our rights, and that we did not relinquish our claims to those 
rights, but only suspended the exercise of them on this occa- 
sion through force, against which we protested, they at length 
agreed to drop that bill, and frame another conformable to the 

» It was the custom for the passen- Virginia in 1756, and also comman- 

ger to furnish the greater part of his der-in-chief of the English forces in 

provision for the voyage. America. He accomplished nothing, 

^ John Campbell, Lord Loudon, however, and was superseded the next 

1705-1782, was made governor of year by Sir Jeffrey Amherst. 



208 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FKANKLi.s 

proprietary instructions. This of course the governor passed, 
and I was then at liberty to proceed on my voyage. But, in 
the meantime, the packet had sailed with my sea-stores, which 
was some loss to me, and my only recompense was his lord- 
ship's thanks for my service, all the credit of obtaining the 
accommodation falling to his share. 

He set out for ^ew York before me; and, as the time for 
dispatching the packet-boats was at his disposition, and there 
were two then remaining there, one of which, he said, was to 
sail very soon, I requested to know the precise time, that I 
might not miss her by any delay of mine. His answer was : 
" I have given out that she is to sail on Saturday next ; but I 
may let you know, entre nous, that if you are there by Mon- 
day morning, you will be in time, but do not delay longer." 
B}^ some accidental hindrance at a ferry, it was Monday noon 
before I arrived, and I was much afraid she might have sailed, 
as the wind was fair : but I was soon made easy by the infor- 
mation that she was still in the harbor, and would not move 
till the next day. One would imagine that I was now on the 
very point of departing for Europe. I thought so ; but I was 
not then so well acquainted with his lordship's character, of 
which indecision was one of the strongest features. I shall 
give some instances. It was about the beginning of April that 
I came to New York, and I think it was near the end of June 
before we sailed. There were then two of the packet-boats, 
which had been long in port, but were detained for the gen- 
eral's letters, which were always to be ready to-morrow. 
Another packet arrived; she too was detained; and, before 
we sailed, a fourth was expected. Ours was the first to be 
dispatched, as having been there longest. Passengers were 
engaged in all, and some extremely impatient to be gone, and 
the merchants uneasy about their letters, and the orders they 
had given for insurance (it being war time) for fall goods ; but 
their anxiety availed nothing; his lordship's letters were not 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIN FRANKLIN 209 

read}'; and yet whoever waited on him found him always at 
his desk, pen in hand, and concluded he must needs write 
abundantly. 

Going myself one morning to pay my respects, I found in 
his antechamber one Innis, a messenger of Philadelphia, who 
had come from thence express with a packet from Governor 
Denny for the General. He delivered to me some letters from 
my friends there^ which occasioned my inquiry when he was 
to return, and where he lodged, that I might send some letters 
by him. He told me he was ordered to call to-morrow at nine 
for the General's answer to the governor, and should set off 
immediately. I put my letters into his hands the same day. 
A fortnight after I met him again in the same place. " So, 
you are soon returned, Innis?" ''Returned! no, I am not 
gone jet" " How so ? " "I have called here by order every 
morning these two weeks past for his lordship's letter, and it 
it not yet ready." " Is it possible, when he is so great a 
writer ? for I see him constantly at his escritoire." " Yes," 
says Innis, " but he is like St. George on the signs, always on 
horsehach, and never rides on." This observation of the mes- 
senger was, it seems, well founded; for, when in England, I 
understood that Mr. Pitt ^ gave it as one reason for removing 
this general, and sending Generals Amherst and Wolfe, that 
the minister never heard from him, and could not hnoiv what 
he was doing. 

This daily expectation of sailing, and all the three packets 
going down to Sandy Hook, to join the fleet there, the passen- 
gers thought it best to be on board, lest by a sudden order the 
ships should sail, and they be left behind. There, if I remem- 
ber right, we were about six weeks, consuming our sea-stores, 
and obliged to procure more. At length the fleet sailed, the 

2 "William Pitt, 1708-1778, after- State and was the actual head of 
wards the famous Earl of Chatham. the government, although the Earl 
He was at this time Secretary of of Newcastle was Prime Minister. 



210 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

General and all his army on board, bound to Louisburg," with 
intent to besiege and take that fortress; all the packet-boats 
in company ordered to attend the General's ship, ready to 
receive his dispatches when they should be ready. We were 
out five days before we got a letter with leave to part, and 
then our ship quitted the fleet and steered for England. The 
other two packets he still detained, carried them with him to 
Halifax, where he stayed some time to exercise the men in 
sham attacks upon sham forts, then altered his mind as to 
besieging Louisburg, and returned to New York, with all his 
troops, together with the two packets above mentioned, and all 
their passengers ! During his absence the French and savages 
had taken Fort George,* on the frontier of that province, and 
the savages had massacred many of the garrison after capitu- 
lation. 

I saw afterwards in London Captain Bonnell, who com- 
manded one of those packets. He told me that, when he had 
been detained a month, he acquainted his lordship that his 
ship was grown foul, to a degree that must necessarily hinder 
her fast sailing, a point of consequence for a packet-boat, and 
requested an allowance of time to heave her down and clean 
her bottom. He was asked how long time that would require. 
He answered, three days. The General replied : " If you can 
do it in one day, I give leave; otherwise not; for you must 
certainly sail the day after to-morrow." So he never obtained 
leave, though detained afterwards from day to day during full 
three months. 

I saw also in London one of Bonnell's passengers, who was 
so enraged against his lordship for deceiving and detaining 

^Louisburg (p. 153, note 5) had calm during the summer. An earlier 

been restored to France at the peace fort had been called Fort George, 

of Aix la Chapelle. The capture was followed by a mas- 

* Franklin has in mind Fort Wil- sacre as will be remembered by the 

Ham Henry, at the head of Lake readers of "Last of the Mohicans." 
George which was captured by Mont- 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN ERAXKLIX 211 

him so long at Xew York, and then carrying him to Halifax 
and back again, that he swore he would sue him for damages. 
Whether he did or not, I never heard; but, as he represented 
the injury to his affairs, it was very considerable. 

On the whole, I wondered much how such a man came to 
be intrusted with so important a business as the conduct of a 
great army; but, having since seen more of the great world, 
and the means of obtaining and motives for giving places, my 
wonder is diminished. General Shirley, on whom the com- 
mand of the army devolved upon the death of Braddock, 
would, in my opinion, if continued in place, have made a 
much better campaign than that of Loudon in 1757, which 
was frivolous, expensive, and disgraceful to our nation be- 
yond conception; for, though Shirley was not a bred soldier, 
he was sensible and sagacious in himself, and attentive to 
good advice from others, capable of forming judicious plans, 
and quick and active in carrying them into execution. Lou- 
don, instead of defending the colonies with his great army, 
left them totally exposed, while he paraded idly at Halifax, 
by which means Fort George was lost; besides, he deranged 
all our mercantile operations, and distressed our trade, by a 
long embargo on the exportation of provisions, on pretense of 
keeping supplies from being obtained by the enemy, but in 
reality for beating dowTi their price in favor of the con- 
tractors, in whose profits, it was said, perhaps from suspicion 
only, he had a share. And, when at length the embargo was 
taken off, by neglecting to send notice of it to Charleston, 
the Carolina fleet was detained near three months longer, 
whereby their bottoms were so much damaged by the worm 
that a great part of them foundered in their passage home. 

Shirley was, I believe, sincerely glad of being relieved from 
so burdensome a charge as the conduct of an army must be to 
a man unacquainted with military business. I was at the 
entertainment given by the city of Xew York to Lord Lou- 



213 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN- 

don, on his taking upon him the command. Shirley, though 
thereby superseded, was present also. There was a great 
company of officers, citizens, and strangers, and, some chairs 
having been borrowed in the neighborhood, there was one 
among them very low, which fell to the lot of Mr. Shirley. 
Perceiving it as I sat by him, I said : " They have given you, 
sir, too low a seat." " No matter," says he, " Mr. Franklin, 
I find a low seat the easiest." 

While I was, as aforementioned, detained at New York, I 
received all the accounts of the provisions, etc., that I had 
furnished to Braddock, some of which accounts could not 
sooner be obtained from the different persons I had employed 
to assist in the business. I presented them to Lord Loudon, 
desiring to be paid the balance. He caused them to be regu- 
larly examined by the proper officer, who, after comparing 
every article with its voucher, certified them to be right ; and 
the balance due for which his lordship promised to give me 
an order on the paymaster. This was, however, put off from 
time to time ; and, though I called often for it by appointment, 
I did not get it. At length, just before my departure, he told 
me he had, on better consideration, concluded not to mix his 
accounts with those of his predecessors. " And you," says 
he, " when in England, have only to exhibit your accounts at 
the treasury, and you will be paid immediately." 

I mentioned, but without effect, the gi-eat and unexpected 
expense I had been put to by being detained so long at New 
York, as a reason for my desiring to be presently ^ paid ; and 
on my observing that it was not riglit I should be put to any 
further trouble or delay in obtaining the money I had ad- 
vanced, as I charged no commission for my service, " Oh, sir," 
says he, "you must not think of persuading us that you are 
no gainer; we understand better those affairs, and know that 

5 at once. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 213 

eveiyone concerned in supplying the army finds means, in 
the doing it, to fill his own pockets." I assured him that was 
not my case, and that I had not pocketed a farthing; but he 
appeared clearly not to believe me; and, indeed, I have since 
learned that immense fortunes are often made in such em- 
ployments. As to my balance, I am not paid it to this day, 
of which more hereafter. 

Our captain of the packet had boasted much, before we 
sailed, of the swiftness of his ship; unfortunately, when we 
came to sea, she proved the dullest of ninety-six sail, to his 
no small mortification. After many conjectures respecting 
the cause, when we were near another ship almost as dull as 
ours, which, however, gained upon us, the captain ordered all 
hands to come aft, and stand as near the ensign staff as pos- 
sible. We were, passengers included, about forty persons. 
While we stood there, the ship mended her pace, and soon 
left her neighbor far behind, which proved clearly what our 
captain suspected, that she was loaded too much by the head. 
The casks of water, it seems, had been all placed forward; 
these he therefore ordered to be moved further aft, on which 
the ship recovered her character, and proved the best sailer in 
the fleet. 

The captain said she had once gone at the rate of thirteen 
knots, which is accounted thirteen miles per hour. We had 
on board, as a passenger, Captain Kennedy, of the Navy, who 
contended that it was impossible, and that no ship ever sailed 
so fast, and that there must have been some error in the 
division of the log-line, or some mistake in heaving the log. 
A wager ensued between the two captains, to be decided when 
there should be sufficient wind. Kennedy thereupon exam- 
ined rigorously the log-line, and, being satisfied with that, he 
determined to throw the log himself. Accordingly some days 
after, when the wind blew very fair and fresh, and the cap- 



214 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRAXKLIX 

tain of the packet, Lutwidge, said he believed she then went 
at the rate of thirteen knots, Kennedy made the experiment, 
and owned his wager lost. 

The above fact I give for the sake of the following observa- 
tion. It has been remarked, as an imperfection in the art of 
shipbuilding, that it can never be known, till she is tried, 
whether a new ship will or will not be a good sailor ; for that 
the model of a good-sailing ship has been exactly followed in 
a new one, which has proved, on the contrary, remarkably 
dull. I apprehend that this may partly be occasioned by the 
different opinions of seamen respecting the modes of lading, 
rigging, and sailing of a ship; each has his system; and the 
same vessel, laden by the judgment and orders of one cap- 
tain, shall sail better or worse than wdien by the orders of 
another. Besides, it scarce ever happens that a ship is 
formed, fitted for the sea, and sailed by the same person. 
One man builds the hull, another rigs her, a third lades and 
sails her. No one of these has the advantage of knowing 
all the ideas and experience of the others, and, therefore, 
cannot draw just conclusions from a combination of the 
whole. 

Even in the simple operation of sailing when at sea, I have 
often observed different judgments in the officers who com- 
manded the successive watches, the wind being the same. 
One would have the sails trimmed sharper or flatter than 
another, so that they seemed to have no certain rule to govern 
by. Yet I think a set of experiments might be instituted, 
first, to determine the most proper form of the hull for swift 
sailing; next, the best dimensions and properest place for the 
masts; then the form and quantity of sails, and their posi- 
tion, as the wind may be ; and, lastly, the disposition of the 
lading. This is an age of experiments, and I think a set ac- 
curately made and combined would be of great use. I am 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIX FRAXKLIX 215 

persuaded, therefore, that ere long some ingenious philoso- 
pher will undertake it, to whom I wish success. 

We were several times chased in our passage, but outsailed 
everything, and in thirty days had soundings. We had a 
good observation, and the captain judged himself so near our 
port, Falmouth, that, if we made a good run in the night, we 
might be off the mouth of that harbor in the morning, and by 
running in the night might escape the notice of the enemy's 
privateers, who often cruised near the entrance of the chan- 
nel. Accordingly, all the sail was set that we could possibly 
make, and the wind being very fresh and fair, we went right 
before it, and made great way. The captain, after his obser- 
vation, shaped his course, as he thought, so as to pass wide of 
the Scilly Isles; but it seems there is sometimes a strong in- 
draught setting up St. George's Channel, which deceives sea- 
men and caused the loss of Sir Cloudesley Shovel's ® squadron. 
This indraught was probably the cause of what happened 
to us. 

We had a watchman placed in the bow, to whom they often 
called, " Look well out before there/' and he as often answered, 
'' Aye, aye; " but perhaps had his eyes shut, and was half 
asleep at the time, they sometimes answering, as is said, 
mechanically; for he did not see a light just before us, which 
had been hid by the studding-sails from the man at the helm, 
and from the rest of the watch, but by an accidental yaw of 
the ship was discovered, and occasioned a great alarm, we 
being very near it, the light appearing to me as big as a cart- 
wheel. It was midnight, and our captain fast asleep; but 
Captain Kennedy, jumping upon deck, and seeing the danger, 
ordered the ship to wear round, all sails standing; an opera- 
tion dangerous to the masts, but it carried us clear, and we 

^ Sir Cloudesley Shovel, 1650- wrecked and lost with his squadron 
1707, a distinguished admiral, ship- off the Scillv Islands. 



216 THE AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

escaped shipwreck, for we were running right upon the rocks 
on which the lighthouse was erected. This dehverance im- 
pressed me strongly with the utility of lighthouses, and 
made me resolve to encourage the building of more of them 
in America, if I should live to return there. 

In the morning it was found by the soundings, etc., that 
we were near our port, but a thick fog hid the land from our 
sight. About nine o'clock the fog began to rise, and seemed 
to be lifted up from the water like the curtain at a play-house, 
discovering underneath the town of Falmouth, the vessels in 
its harbor, and the fields that surrounded it. This was a 
most pleasing spectacle to those who had been so long with- 
out any other prospects than the uniform view of a vacant 
ocean, and it gave us the more pleasure as we were now free 
from the anxieties which the state of war occasioned. 

I set out immediately, with my son, for London, and we 
only stopped a little by the way to view Stonehenge ^ on Salis- 
bury Plain, and Lord Pembroke's house and gardens, with his 
very curious antiquities at Wilton. We arrived in London the 
27 of July, 1757. 



As soon as I was settled in a lodging Mr. Charles had pro- 
vided for me, I went to visit Dr. Fothergill, to whom I was 
strongly recommended, and whose counsel respecting my pro- 
ceedings I was advised to obtain. He was against an imme- 
diate complaint to government, and thought the proprietaries 
should first be personally applied to, who might possibly be 
induced by the interposition and persuasion of some private 
friends, to accommodate matters amicably. I then waited on 
my old friend and correspondent, Mr. Peter Collinson, who 
told me that John Hanbury, the great Virginia merchant, 

^ A famous Druid monument formed right, but only a few of them now 
of enormous stones. There was remain in position, 
once a circle of them standing up- 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 317 

had requested to be informed when I should arrive, that he 
might carry me to Lord Granville's/ who was then President 
of the Council and wished to see me as soon as possible. I 
agreed to go with him the next morning. Accordingly Mr. 
Hanbury called for me and took me in his carriage to that 
nobleman's, who received me with great civility; and after 
some questions respecting the present state of affairs in 
America and discourse thereupon, he said to me : " You 
Americans have wrong ideas of the nature of your constitu- 
tion ; ^ you contend that the king's instructions to his govern- 
ors are not laws, and think yourselves at liberty to regard 
or disregard them at your own discretion. But those instruc- 
tions are not like the pocket instructions given to a minister 
going abroad, for regulating his conduct in some trifling point 
of ceremony. They are first drawn up by judges learned in 
the laws; they are then considered, debated, and perhaps 
amended in Council, after which they are signed by the king. 
They are then, so far as they relate to you, the law of the 
land, for the king is the Legislator of the Colonies." I 
told his lordship this was new doctrine to me. I had always 
understood from our charters that our laws were to be made 
by our Assemblies, to be presented indeed to the king for his 
royal assent, but that being once given the king could not 
repeal or alter them. And as the Assemblies could not make 
permanent laws without his assent, so neither could he make 
a law for them without theirs. He assured me I was totally 
mistaken. I did not think so, however, and his lordship's 
conversation having a little alarmed me as to what might be 

8 John Carteret, Earl Granville, conditions of government. Such un- 

1690-1763, a political figure of some certainties and differences of opinion 

note, a strong opponent of Walpole as these are almost necessary in a 

and afterward of Pitt. government carried on, like that oi 

^ There was at this time, of course, England, with no written constitu- 

no written Constitution in America ; tion. 
Lord Granville meant the form and 



218 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIX FRAXKLIX^ 

the sentiments of the court concerning us, I wrote it down as 
soon as I returned to my lodgings. I recollected that about 
twenty years before, a clause in a bill brought into Parliament 
by the ministry had proposed to make the king's instructions 
laws in the Colonies, but the clause was thrown out by the 
Commons, for which we adored them as our friends and 
friends of liberty, till by their conduct towards us in 1765 
it seemed that they had refused that point of sovereignty to 
the king only that they might reserve it for themselves. 

After some days. Dr. Fothergill having spoken to the pro- 
prietaries, they agreed to a meeting with me at Mr. T. Penn's ^ 
house in Spring Garden. The conversation at first consisted 
of mutual declarations of disposition to reasonable accommo- 
dations, but I suppose each party had its own ideas of what 
should be meant by reasonable. We then went into consider- 
ation of our several points of complaint, which I enumerated. 
The proprietaries justified their conduct as well as they could, 
and I the Assembly's. We now appeared very wide, and so 
far from each other in our opinions as to discourage all hope 
of agreement. However, it was concluded that I should give 
them the heads of our complaints in writing, and they prom- 
ised then to consider them. I did so soon after, but they put 
the paper into the hands of their solicitor, Ferdinand John 
Paris, who managed for them all their law business in their 
great suit with the neighboring proprietary of Maryland, 
Lord Baltimore, which had subsisted seventy years, and wrote 
for them all their papers and messages in their dispute with the 
Assembly. He was a proud, angry man, and as I had occa- 
sionally, in the answers of the Assembly, treated his papers 
Avith some severity, they being really weak in point of argu- 
ment, and haughty in expression, he had conceived a mortal 
enmity to me, which discovering itself whenever we met, I 

^ The proprietors at this time were Richard and Thomas, two sons of 
"Williani Penn. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 219 

declined the proprietary's proposal that he and I should dis- 
cuss the heads of complaint hetween our two selves, and re- 
fused treating with anyone but them. They then by his 
advice put the paper into the hands of the Attorney and So- 
licitor-General for their opinion and counsel upon it, where it 
lay unanswered a year wanting eight days, during which 
time I made frequent demands of an answer from the pro- 
prietaries, but without obtaining any other than that they 
had not yet received the opinion of the Attorney and Solicitor- 
General. What it was when they did receive it I never 
learned, for they did not communicate it to me, but sent a long 
message to the Assembly drawn and signed by Paris, reciting 
my paper, complaining of its want of formality, as a rudeness 
on my part, and giving a flimsy justification of their conduct, 
adding that they should be willing to accommodate matters if 
the Assembly would send out some person of candor to treat 
with them for that purpose, intimating thereby that I was 
not such. 

The want of formality or rudeness was, probably, my not 
having addressed the paper to them with their assumed titles 
of True and Absolute Proprietaries of the Province of Penn- 
sylvania, which I omitted as not thinking it necessary in a 
paper, the intention of which was only to reduce to a certainty 
by writing, what in conversation I had delivered viva voce. 

But during this delay, the Assembly having prevailed with 
Governor Denny to pass an act taxing the proprietary estate 
in common with the estates of the people, which was the grand 
point in dispute, they omitted answering the message. 

When this act,- however, came over, the proprietaries, coun- 
seled by Paris, determined to oppose its receiving the royal 
assent. Accordingly they petitioned the king in council, and 
a hearing was appointed in which two lawyers were employed 

2 This act, of course, conceded the had in mind in sending Franklin to 
chief point which the Assembly had London. 



220 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

by them against the act, and two by me in support of it. 
They alleged that the act was intended to load the proprietary 
estate in order to spare those of the people, and that if it 
were suffered to continue in force, and the proprietaries who 
were in odium with the people, left to their mercy in propor- 
tioning the taxes, they would inevitably be ruined. We re- 
plied that the act had no such intention, and would have no 
such eifect. That the assessors were honest and discreet men 
under an oath to assess fairly and equitably, and that any ad- 
vantage each of them might expect in lessening his own tax 
by augmenting that of the proprietaries was too trifling to in- 
duce them to perjure themselves. This is the purport of what 
I remember as urged by both sides, except that we insisted 
strongly on the mischievous consequences that must attend a 
repeal, for that the money, £100,000, being printed and given 
to the king's use, expended in his service, and now spread 
among the people, the repeal would strike it dead in their 
hands to the ruin of many, and the total di scour agem^ent of 
future grants, and the selfishness of the proprietors in solic- 
iting such a general catastrophe, merely form a groundless 
fear of their estate being taxed too highly, was insisted on in 
the strongest terms. On this Lord Mansfield,^ one of the 
counsel, rose, and beckoning me, took me into the clerk's 
chamber, while the lawyers were pleading, and asked me if I 
was really of opinion that no injury would be done the pro- 
prietary estate in the execution of the act. I said certainly. 
" Then," says he, "you can have little objection to enter -into 
an engagement to assure that point." I answered, " None at 
all." He then called in Paris, and after some discourse, his 
lordship's proposition was accepted on both sides; a paper to 
the purpose was drawn up by the clerk of the Council, which 
I signed with Mr. Charles, who was also an agent of the Prov- 

3 ^Villiam Murray, first Lord Mansfield, a famous lawyer raised to the 
position of Lord Chancellor. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 221 

ince for their ordinary affairs, when Lord Mansfield returned 
to the council chamber, where finally the law was allowed to 
pass. Some changes* were, however, recommended, and we 
also engaged they should be made by a subsequent law, but 
the Assembly did not think them necessary; for one year's 
tax having been levied by the act before the order of Council 
arrived, they appointed a committee to examine the proceed- 
ings of the assessors, and on this committee they put several 
particular friends of the proprietaries. After a full inquiry, 
they unanimously signed a report that they found the tax 
had been assessed with perfect equity. 

The Assembly looked into my entering into the first part of 
the engagement, as an essential service to the Province, since 
it secured the credit of the papei* money then spread over all 
the country. They gave me their thanks in form when I re- 
turned. But the proprietaries were enraged at Governor 
Denny for having passed the act, and turned him out with 
threats of suing him for breach of instructions which he had 
given bond to observe. He, however, having done it at the 
instance of the General, and for His Majesty's service, and 
having some powerful interests at court, despised the threats 
and they were never put in execution. 

A CONTINUATION OF FEANKLIN'S LIFE 

ILLUSTRATED BY HIS LETTERS 

Franklin says little in the " Autobiography " of his first 
stay in London; we may add something to his account by 
a few extracts from his letters: 

" During my illness, which continued near eight weeks^ 

* These changes were proposed by why the Assembly did not think them 
Franklin for the sake of satisfying necessary appeared to be that the 
the proprietaries that their interests proprietary interests had been con- 
would not be harmed. The reason sidered (as noted) in the original act. 



223 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMIX FKAXKLIX 

I wrote several letters as I was able. The last was by the 
packet which sailed from Falmouth above a week since. 
In that I informed you that my intermitting fever, which 
had continued to harass me by frequent relapses, was gone 
off, and I have ever since been gathering strength and flesh. 
My doctor, Fottergill, who had forbid me the use of pen 
and ink, now permits me to write as much as I can without 
over fatiguing myself, and therefore I sit down to w^ite 
more fully than I have hitherto been able to do.^^ To his ivife : 
London, Nov. 22nd, 1757. 

" I begin to think I shall hardly be able to return before 
this time twelve months. I am for doing effectually what 
I came about; and I find it requires both time and patience. 
You may think, perhaps, that I can find many amusements 
here to pass the time agreeably. It is true, the regard and 
friendship I meet with from persons of worth, and the con- 
versation of ingenious men, give me no small pleasure; but, 
at this time of life, domestic comforts afford the most solid 
satisfaction, and my uneasiness at being absent from my 
family, and longing desire to be with them, make one often 
sigh in the midst of cheerful company." To his wife: Lon- 
don, Jan. 21st 1758. 

Franklin lodged while in London, with a Mrs. Stevenson 
who lived on Craven St., whose house, as time went on and he 
found himself staying longer and longer in England, be- 
came a kind of second home to him. He became particu- 
larly attached to her daughter Mary, at this time a girl of 
about eighteen years of age, and some of his most intere'sting 
letters of this date are written to her. Here is one which 
deals with the question of reading : 

" I send my good girl the books I mentioned to her last 
night. I beg her to accept of them as a small mark of my 
esteem and friendship. They are written in the familiar, 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN EEAXKLIN 223 

easy manner, for which the French are so remarkable/ and 
afford a good deal of philosophic and practical knowledge, 
unembarrassed with the dry mathematics used by more exact 
reasoners, but which are apt to discourage young beginners. 

" I would advise you to read with a pen in your hand, and 
enter in a little book short hints of what you find that is 
curious, or that may be useful ; for this will be the best method 
of imprinting such particulars in your memory, where they 
will be ready, either for practice on some future occasion, if 
they are matters of utility, or at least to adorn and improve 
your conversation, if they are rather points of curiosity. 

" And as many of the terms of science are such as you can- 
not have met with in your common reading, and may there- 
fore be unacquainted with, I think it would be well for you 
to have a good dictionary at hand, to consult immediately 
when you meet with a word you do not comprehend the pre- 
cise meaning of. This may at first seem troublesome and 
interrupting; but it is a trouble that will daily diminish, as 
you will daily find less and less occasion for your dictionary, 
as you become more and more acquainted with the terms; 
and in the meantime you will read with more satisfaction, 
because with more understanding. 

" When any point occurs in which you would be glad to 
have further information than your book affords you, I beg 
you would not in the least apprehend that I should think it 
a trouble to receive and answer your questions. It will be a 
pleasure, and no trouble. For though I may not be able, out 
of my own little stock of knowledge, to afford you what you 
require, I can easily direct you to the books where it may 
most readily be found." To Mary Stevenson: London, May 
16th, 1760. 

In the years he spent in England Franklin formed many 

1 And which, it might be added, Franklin himself used with so much 
effect. 



224 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

friends, especially among men eminent in science and litera- 
ture. Of these last among the most noteworthy was Henry 
Home, better known as Lord Kames, whose " Elements of 
Criticism^' used to be a well known text-book in American 
colleges. When in 1764 Franklin returned to London he 
sent Lord Kames an account of what he had done since leav-' 
ing England: 

" You require my history from the time I set sail for 
America. I left England about the end of August, 1762, 
in company with ten sail of merchant ships, under a convoy 
of a man-of-war. We had a pleasant passage to Madeira, 
where we were kindly received and entertained ; our nation be- 
ing then in high honor with the Portuguese, on account of 
the protection we were then affording them against the 
united invasions of France and Spain. It is a fertile island, 
and the different heights and situations among its moun- 
tains afford such temperaments of air, that all the fruit of 
northern and southern countries are produced there; corn, 
grapes, apples, peaches, oranges, lemons, plantain, bananas, 
etc. Here we furnished ourselves with fresh provisions, and 
refreshments of all kinds; and, after a few days, proceeded 
on our voyage, running southward until we got into the trade 
winds, and then with them westward, till we drew near the 
coast of America. The weather was so favorable, that there 
were few days in which we could not visit from ship to ship, 
dining with each other, and on board of the man-of-war, which 
made the time pass agreeably, much more so than when one 
goes in a single ship; for this was like traveling in a moving 
village, with all one's neighbors about one. 

" On the 1st of November I arrived safe and well at my 
own home, after an absence of near six years ; found my wife 
and daughter well, the latter grown quite a woman, with 
many amiable accomplishments acquired in my absence; and 



THE AUTOBIOGBAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 225 

my friends as hearty and affectionate as ever, with whom my 
house was filled for many days, to congratulate me on my 
return. I had been chosen yearly during my absence to rep- 
resent the city of Philadelphia in our Provincial Assembly; 
and, on my appearance in the House, they voted me three 
thousand pounds sterling for my services in England, and 
their thanks, delivered by the Speaker. In February follow- 
ing, my son arrived with my new daughter; for with my 
consent and approbation he married, soon after I left Eng- 
land, a very agreeable West India lady, with whom he is very 
happy. I accompanied him to his government, where he met 
with the kindest reception from the people of all ranks, and 
has lived with them ever since in the greatest harmony. A 
river only parts that province and ours, and his residence is 
within seventeen miles of me, so that we frequently see each 
other. 

" In the spring of 1763 I set out on a tour through all the 
northern colonies to inspect and regulate the post-offices in 
the several provinces. In this journey I spent the summer, 
traveled about sixteen hundred miles, and did not get home 
till the beginning of November. The Assembly sitting 
through the following winter, and warm disputes arising be- 
tween them and the governor, I became wholly engaged in 
public affairs ; for, besides my duty as an Assemblyman, I had 
another trust to execute — that of being one of the commis- 
sioners appointed by law to dispose of the public money ap- 
propriated to the raising and paying an army to act against 
the Indians, and defend the frontiers. And then, in Decem- 
ber, we had two insurrections of the back inhabitants of our 
province, by whom twenty poor Indians were murdered, that 
had, from the first settlement of the province, lived among us, 
under the protection of our government. This gave me a 
good deal of employment; for, as the rioters threatened fur- 
ther mischief, and their actions seemed to be approved by an 



226 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

ever-acting party, I wrote a pamphlet entitled A Narrative, 
etc. (which I think I sent to you), to strengthen the hands 
of our weak government, by rendering the proceedings of the 
rioters unpopular and odious. This had a good effect; and 
afterwards, when a great body of them, with arms, marched 
toward the capital, in defiance of the government, with an 
avowed resolution to put to death one hundred and forty In- 
dian converts then under its protection, I formed an associa- 
tion, at the governor's request, for his and their defense, we 
having no militia. Nearly one thousand of the citizens ac- 
cordingly took arms. Governor Penn made my house for 
some time his headquarters, and did everything by my advice ; 
so that for about forty-eight hours I was a very great man, 
as I had been once some years before, in a time of public 
danger. 

" But the fighting face we put on, and the reasonings we 
used with the insurgents (for I went, at the request of the 
governor and council, with three others, to meet and discourse 
with them), having turned them back and restored quiet to 
the city, I became a less man than ever; for I had, by this 
transaction, made myself many enemies among the populace ; 
and the governor (with whose family our public disputes had 
long placed me in an unfriendly light, and the services I had 
lately rendered him not being of the kind that make a man 
acceptable), thinking it a favorable opportunity, joined the 
whole weight of the proprietary interest to get me out of the 
Assembly, which was accordingly effected at the last election, 
by a majority of about twenty-five in four thousand voters. 

" The House, however, when they met in October, approved 
of the resolutions taken, while I was Speaker, of petitioning 
the crown for a change of government, and requested me to 
return to England to prosecute that petition ; which service I 
accordingly undertook, and embarked at the beginning of 
November last, being accompanied to the ship, sixteen miles, 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRAXKLIX 227 

by a cavalcade of three hundred of my friends, who filled our 
sails with their good wishes, and I arrived in thirty days at 
London. Here I have been ever since, engaged in that and 
other public affairs relating to America, which are like to con- 
tinue some time longer upon my hands; but I promise you 
that when I am quit of these I will engage in no other; and 
that, as soon as I have recovered the ease and leisure I hope 
for, the task you require of me, of finishing my Art of Virtue 
shall be performed." To Lord Karnes, London, June, 1765. 

Public affairs, however, interfered as they had done before, 
with Franklin's pleasant anticipations. He remained in Eng- 
land for ten years occupied with public business. The matter 
of chief importance concerned the Stamp Act, and we may 
read in a letter written much later, Franklin's account of the 
material events. 

" In the pamphlet you were so kind as to lend me, there 
is one important fact misstated, apparently from the writer's 
not having been furnished with good information; it is the 
transaction between Mr. Grenville and the Colonies, wherein 
he understands that Mr. Grenville demanded of them a 
specific sum, that they refused to grant anything, and that 
it was on their refusal only, that he made the motion for 
the Stamp Act. Xo one of these particulars is true. The 
fact was this. Some time in the winter of 1763-64, Mr. 
Grenville called together the agents of the several Colonies, 
and told them that he proposed to draw a revenue from 
America, and to that end his intention was to levy a stamp 
duty on the Colonies by act of Parliament in the ensuing 
session, of which he thought fit that they should be im- 
mediately acquainted that they might have time to consider, 
and, if any other duty equally productive would be more 
agreeable to them, they might let him know. The agents 
were therefore directed to write this to their respective As- 
semblies, and communicate to him the answers thev should 



228 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

receive; the agents wrote accordingly. I was a member in 
the Assembly of Pennsylvania when this notification came to 
hand. The observations there made upon it were, that the 
ancient, established and regular method of drawing aid from 
the Colonies was this. The occasion was always first con- 
sidered by their sovereign in his privy council, by whose sage 
advise he directed his Secretary of State to write circular 
letters to the several governors who were directed to lay 
them before their Assemblies. In these letters the occasion 
was explained for their satisfaction, with gracious expressions 
of his majesty's confidence in their well-known duty and 
affection, on which he relied, that they would grant such 
sums as should be suitable to their abilities, loyalty, and zeal 
for his service. That the Colonies had always granted liber- 
ally on such requisitions, and so liberally during the late war, 
that the king, sensible that they had granted much more 
than their proportion, had recommended it to Parliament, 
five years successively, to make them some compensation, and 
the Parliament accordingly returned them two hundred 
thousand pounds a year, to be divided among them. That 
the proposition of taxing them in Parliament was therefore 
both cruel and unjust. . . . That, as they always had, 
so they always should think it Uheir duty to grant aid to 
the crown, according to their abilities, whenever required of 
them in the usual constitutional manner/ 

" I went soon after to England, and took with me an au- 
thentic copy of this resolution, which I presented to Mr. 
Grenville before be brought in the Stamp Act. I asserted in 
the House of Commons (Mr. Grenville being present), that 
I had done so, and he did not deny it. Other Colonies made 
similar resolutions, and had Mr. Grenville, instead of that act, 
applied to the king in council for such requisitional letters 
to be circulated by the Secretary of State, I am sure he 
would have obtained more money from the Colonies by their 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 229 

voluntary grants, than he himself expected from his stamps. 
But he chose compulsion rather than persuasion and would 
not obtain from their good will what he thought he could 
obtain without it. And thus the golden bridge, which the 
ingenious author thinks the Americans unwisely and unbe- 
comingly refused to hold out to the ministers and Parliament, 
was actually held out to them, but they refused to walk over 
it. This is the true history of that transaction; and, as it 
is probable there may be another edition of that excellent 
pamphlet, I wish this may be communicated to the candid 
author who, I doubt not, will correct that error." To Wil- 
liam Alexander, dated Passy, March 12th, 1778. 

The Stamp Act was passed and an immense disturbance 
arose in America. The Assemblies petitioned Parliament for 
its repeal, and meanwhile the people abstained from the use 
of the articles that were stamped. This had little effect upon 
Lord Grenville, the minister who had advised the tax, but 
when he went out of office in July, 1765, he was succeeded 
by the Marquis of Eockingham. The new minister resolved 
to repeal the Stamp Act and did so. It was on this oc- 
casion that Franklin was called before the bar of the House 
of Commons and examined on the state of the American 
colonies in relation to the Stamp Act. His answers were 
thought to be very convincing,^ but however that may have 
been the Act was repealed March 18th, 1766. Franklin 
wrote to his wife as follows: 

" As the Stamp Act is at length repealed, I am willing 
you should have a new gown, which you may suppose I did 
not send sooner, as I knew you would not like to be finer than 
your neighbors, unless in a gown of your own spinning. Had 
the trade between the two countries totally ceased, it was a 
comfort to me to recollect that I had once been clothed from 

2 The whole examination may be read in Bigelow's " Life of Franklin," I. 
469. 



230 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

head to foot in woolen and linen of my wife's manufacture, 
that I never was prouder of any dress in my life, and that 
she and her daughter might do it again if it was necessary. 
I told the Parliament that it was my opinion, before the old 
clothes of the Americans were worn out they might have 
new ones of their own making. I have sent you a fine piece 
of Pompadour satin, fourteen yards, cost eleven shillings a 
yard; a silk negligee and a petticoat of brocaded lutestring 
for my dear Sally ; with two dozen gloves, four bottles of 
lavender water, and two little reels. The reels are to screw 
on the edge of the table, when she would wind silk or thread. 
The skein is to be put over them, and winds better than if 
held in two hands. There is also a gimcrack corkscrew, 
which you must get some brother gimcrack to show you the 
use of. In the chest is a parcel of books for my friend 
Mr. Coleman, and another for Cousin Colbert. Pray, did he 
receive those I sent him before? I send you also a box 
with three fine cheeses. Perhaps a bit of them may be left 
when I come home. Mrs. Stevenson has been very diligent 
and serviceable in getting these things together for you, 
and presents her best respects, as does her daughter, to 
both you and Sally." To his wife, London, April 6th, 
1766. 

Another letter about this time gives us some idea of his 
personal position : 

" It seems now as if I should stay here another winter, 
and therefore I must leave it to your judgment to act in 
the affair of our daughter's match, as shall seem best.^ If 
you think it a suitable one, I suppose the sooner it is com- 
pleted the better. In that case I would advise that you do 
not make an expensive feasting wedding, but conduct every- 
thing with frugality and econom}^ which our circumstances 
now require to be observed in all our expenses. For, since 

3 This was Sally Franklin who married Richard Bache, Oct. 29, 1767. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 231 

my partnership with Mr. Hall is expired,* a great source 
of our income is cut off; and, if I should lose the post-office, 
which among the many changes here, is far from being un- 
likely, we should be reduced to our rents and interest of 
money for a subsistence, which will by no means afford the 
chargeable housekeeping and entertainments we have been 
used to. 

" For my own part, I live here as frugally as possible 
not to be destitute of the comforts of life, making no din- 
ners for anybody and contenting myself with a single dish 
when I dine at home; and yet such is the dearness of living 
here in every article, that my expenses amaze me. I see, 
too, by the sums you have received in my absence, that yours 
are very great; and I am very sensible that your situation 
naturally brings you a great many visitors, which occasions 
an expense not easily to be avoided, especially when one has 
been long in the practice and habit of it. But, when peo- 
ple's incomes are lessened, if they cannot proportionately 
lessen their outgoings, they must come to poverty. If we 
were young enough to begin business again, it might be an- 
other matter: but I doubt we are past it, and business not 
well managed ruins one faster than no business. In short, 
with frugality and prudent care we may subsist decently 
on what we have, and leave it entire to our children; but 
without such care we shall not be able to keep it together; 
it will melt away like butter in the sunshine, and we may 
live long enough to feel the miserable consequences of our 
indiscretion.^' To his wife, London, June 22d, 1767. 

With the repeal of the Stamp Act it appeared as if affairs 
between Great Britain and the Colonies might come to some 
accommodation. But such hopes were not destined to be 
realized. Franklin stayed on and on in England for eight 
years, but finally became convinced that he could accomplish 

*See p. 159. 



232 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

nothing and in 1775 he left England for America. During 
the greater part of this time he was agent not onl}^ for the 
Colony of Pennsylvania, but for Georgia, Massachusetts, and 
New Jersey as well. In fact he was representative of Amer- 
ica in England. 

In the early days of 1774 occurred some events which led 
Franklin to believe that he could no longer be serviceable 
to the Colonies as their agent. It was a complicated matter 
but we may use in speaking of it the concise language of 
a friend of his, Dr. Priestley, who described the circum- 
stances many years afterward. " Franklin," he says, " was 
accused of clandestinely procuring certain letters containing 
complaints against the governor [of Massachusetts], and 
sending them to America, with a view to excite their 
animosity against him, and thus to embroil the two coun- 
tries; but he assured me, that he did not even know that 
such letters existed, until they were brought to him as agent 
for the colony, in order to be sent to his constituents; and 
the cover of the letters on which the direction had been writ- 
ten, being lost, he only guessed at the person to whom they 
were addressed by the contents." These were the celebrated 
" Hutchinson Letters " and, however he had come by them, 
there was no doubt that Franklin had sent them to America. 
There was much discussion of the matter and finally a meet- 
ing of the Privy Council was held to consider the case. 
At the meeting, Franklin being present, the Solicitor-General 
made a speech full of the most vigorous personal abuse. 
The next day Franklin was informed that he was dismissed 
from his position as deputy Postmaster-General in America. 
He felt compelled to form the opinion that it was quite 
useless for him longer to represent the Colonies, yet he 
remained in England even for another year, and did not 
finally sail for America until the 20th of March, 1775. The 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 233 

following letter was written shortly after his return to Dr. 
Priestley. 

" You will have heard, before this reaches you, of a march 
stolen by the regulars into the country by night, and of 
their expedition back again. They retreated twenty miles 
in six hours.^ The governor had called the Assembly to 
propose Lord North's pacific plan, but before the time of their 
meeting, began cutting off throats. You know it was said 
he carried the sword in one hand, and the olive branch in 
the other; it seems he chose to give them a taste of the 
sword first. 

" He is doubling his fortifications at Boston, and hopes to 
secure his troops till his successor arrives. The place [Bos- 
ton] indeed is so naturally defensible, that I think there is no 
danger. All America is exasperated by his conduct, and 
more firmly united than ever. The breach between the two 
countries is grown wider, and in danger of becoming irrep- 
arable. 

" I had a passage of six weeks, the weather constantly so 
moderate that a London wherry might have accompanied 
us all the way. I got home in the evening, and the next 
morning was unanimously chosen by the Assembly of Penn- 
sylvania, a delegate to the Congress now sitting. 

"In coming over I made a valuable philosophical dis- 
covery, which I shall communicate to you when I can get a 
little time." To Joseph Priestley, Philadelphia, 16th, May, 
1775. 

To another friend he wrote a letter which has become 
famous : 

''Mr. Strdhan: — You are a member of Parliament, and 
one of that majority w^hich has doomed my country to de- 

' From Concord and Lexington, April 19th, 1775. 



234 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIX FRANKLIN 

stmction. You have began to burn our towns and murder 
our people. Look upon your hands; they are stained with 
the blood of your relations! You and I were long friends; 
you are now my enemy, and I am yours. 

"B. Franklin." 

As is told elsewhere he was at once pressed into the service 
of his country. Member of the Continental Congress, Com- 
missioner to Canada, Postmaster-General, in many positions he 
gave his time and energy. He himself has given us an ac- 
count, in his own homely but common sense way, of his con- 
nection with the most important event of the time, the pass- 
ing of the Declaration of Independence. Franklin had been 
one of the committee of five appointed to draw up a declara- 
tion, but the document was chiefly written by Jefferson. 
When the paper was presented to Congress it was much dis- 
cussed, and Jefferson, not unnaturally, was annoyed at all the 
criticisms. Jefferson afterward gave an account of the mat- 
ter. " I was sitting by Dr. Franklin," says he, " who per- 
ceived that I was writhing under these mutilations." 

" I have made it a rule," said he, " whenever in my 
power, to avoid becoming the draughtsman of papers to be 
reviewed by a public body. I took my lesson from an inci- 
dent which I will relate to you. When I was a journeyman 
printer, one of my companions, an apprenticed hatter, hav- 
ing served his time, was about to open shop for himself. 
His first concern was to have a handsome sign-board, with 
a proper inscription. He composed it in these words: John 
Thompson, Hatter, makes and sells hats for ready money, 
with a figure of a hat subjoined. But he thought he would 
submit it to his friends for their amendments. The first he 
showed it to thought the word hatter tautologous, because 
followed by the words makes hats, which showed he was a 
hatter. It was struck out. The next observed that the word 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRAXKLIX 235 

makes might as well be omitted, because his customers would 
not care who made the hats; if good, and to their mind, 
they would buy, by whomsoever made. He struck it out. A 
third said he thought the words for ready money were use- 
less, as it was not the custom of the place to sell on credit. 
Everyone who purchased expected to pay. They were parted 
with, and the inscription now stood, Jolm Thompson sells 
hats. ' Sells hats ? ' says his next friend ; * why, nobody 
will expect you to give them away. "^Tiat, then, is the 
use of that word ? ^ It was stricken out, and hais followed, 
the rather as there was one painted on the board. So his 
inscription was ultimately reduced to John Thompson, with 
the figure of a hat subjoined.^' 

When the members were about to sign, Mr. Hancock is re- 
ported to have said, '^ We must be unanimous ; there must be 
no pulling different ways; we must all hang together." 
*^ Yes," replied Franklin, " we must indeed all hang to- 
gether, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." 

In the fall Franklin was named one of the Commissioners 
to France, and at once left America on his mission. " In 
thirty days after we left the Cape of Delaware," he wrote 
to John Hancock, President of Congress, " we came to anchor 
in Quiberon Bay. I remained on board four days, expecting 
a change of wind proper to carry the ship into the river 
Loire; but the wind seemed fixed in an opposite quarter. I 
landed at Auray, and with some difficulty got hither 
[I^antes], the road not being well supplied with means of 
conveyance. . . . Our friends in France have been a 
good deal dejected with the Gazette accounts of advantages 
obtained against us by the British troops. I have helped 
them here to recover their spirits a little, by assuring them, 
that we still face the enemy, and were under no appre- 
hension of the armies being able to complete their junc- 
tion. I understand that Mr. Lee has latelv been at 



336 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

Paris, and Mr. Deane,^ is still there, and that an under- 
hand supply is obtained from the government of two hundred 
brass field pieces, thirty thousand fire balls, and some other 
military stores, which are now shipping for America, and 
will be conveyed by a ship of war. The Court of England 
(Mr. Penet tells me, from whom I have the above intelli- 
gence), had the folly to demand Mr. Deane to be delivered up 
but were refused. 

" Our voyage, though not long, was rough, and I feel my- 
self weakened by it; but I now recover my strength daily, 
and in a few days shall be able to undertake the journey to 
Paris. I have not yet taken any public character, thinking 
it prudent first to know whether the court is ready and 
willing to receive ministers publicly from the Congress; 
that we may neither embarrass it on the one hand, nor sub- 
ject ourselves to the hazard of a disgraceful refusal on the 
other." 

Franklin remained in France nine years, throughout the 
Eevolutionary War, not returning until some time after 
the final signing of the Treaty of Peace. In his first years 
at least he was very busy. The three Commissioners had 
their hands full; it was their business to do everything for 
America that could be done abroad. They were to attempt 
to make treaties with foreign powers, especially France and 
Spain, they were to try to raise money and to get munitions 
of war, they were to arrange for the unofficial assistance of 
officers and men who would fight for America, they were to 
create an American navy abroad, and to commission priva- 
teers; in other words they were to arrange for just as much 
war against England, based upon Continental support, as the 
laws of neutrality would admit. But it was hoped that 
France would be something more than an indulgent neutral. 
She was at that time generally hostile to England and it 

® Arthur Lee and Silas Deane were the two other Commissioners to France. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 237 

was thought that her own interests, even, might lead her to 
an alliance with America, as well as the enthusiastic sympa- 
thy which inspired so many individual Frenchmen. At 
first the French government held out slight encouragement 
to the idea of alliance. France would help as far as a 
neutral could, but alliance was impossible. But in 1778 
after the news of the surrender of Burgoyne had made it 
clear that America had something more than a fighting 
chance, the situation changed; France was ready to aid and 
a Treaty of Alliance was signed. Her aid was now given 
openly instead of secretly. Some idea of the public in- 
terests of Franklin's life is given by a long letter to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs at home, of which we can in- 
clude only a part : 

"The Marquis de Lafayette, who arrived here the 11th 
of February, brought me yours of October 28th, and the 
new commission, credentials, and instructions, which the 
Congress have honored me with.'' I have not since had an 
opportunity of writing that I could trust; for I see, by 
several instances, the orders given to private captains to 
throw their despatches into the sea, when likely to be taken, 
are sometimes neglected, and sometimes so badly executed,, 
that the letters are recovered by the enemy, and much in- 
convenience has attended their interception. You mention, 
that you should speedily have opportunities of forwarding 
duplicates and triplicates of the papers; none of them has 
ever come to hand, nor have I received any other line from 
you of later date. 

" I immediately acquainted the Minister of Foreign 
Affairs with my appointment, and communicated to him, as 
usual, a copy of my credential letters, on which a day was 
named for my reception. A fit of the gout prevented my 
attendance at that time, and for some weeks after; but, 

' Franklin had been appointed sole Commissioner. 



238 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIX FRAXKLIX 

as soon as I was able to go through the ceremony, I went to 
Versailles, and was presented to the king, and received in 
all the forms. I delivered the letter of Congress into his 
Majesty's own hands, who, in the most gracious manner 
expressed his satisfaction. And I have since constantly at- 
tended the levee every Tuesday, with the other foreign minis- 
ters, and have taken every proper occasion of repeating the 
assurances I am instructed to give, of the grateful sentiments 
of Congress, and their determined resolution to fulfill re- 
ligiously their engagements. Much pains is constantly 
taken by the enemy to weaken the confidence of this Court 
in their new allies, by representing our people as weary of 
the war, and of the government of Congress; which body, 
too, they represent as distracted by dissensions, etc. ; but 
all this has very little effect, and when on some occasions it 
has seemed to make a little impression, and to create some 
apprehensions, I have not found it difficult to remove them. 
And it is my firm opinion, that, notwithstanding the great 
losses suffered by the commerce of this kingdom, since the 
commencement of the war, the disposition of the Court to 
continue it (till its purpose of establishing our independence 
is completed) is not the least changed nor their regard for 
us diminished. 

"The end of that part of the instructions, which relates 
to American seamen taken by the French in English ships, 
had already been obtained. Captain Jones * having had for 
some time an order from Court, directed to the keepers of 
the prisoners, requiring them to deliver to him such Ameri- 
cans as should be found in their hands, that they might be 
at liberty to serve under his command. Most of them have 
accordingly been delivered to him, if not all the ministers 
of the marine, having entertained a high opinion of him, 

8 The famous John Paul Jones. 



THE AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF BENJAMIN FKANKLIN 239 

from his conduct and bravery in taking the Dra'ke^ was de- 
sirous of employing him in the command of a particular 
enterprise, and to that end requested us to spare him, which 
w^e did, and sent the Banger home, under the command of 
his lieutenant. Various accidents have hitherto postponed 
his equipment, but he now has the command of a fifty-gun 
ship, fitted out at the king's expense, and will sail, it is said, 
about the first of June.^ The Marquis de Lafayette was, 
with some land troops, to have gone with him; but I now 
understand the Marquis is not to go, the plan being a 
little changed. . . . 

" I have also, in various ways, and through different 
channels, laid before the ministry the distressed state of our 
finances in America. There seems a great willingness in all 
of them to help us, except in the controller, Mr. Necker, w^ho 
is said not to be well disposed toward us, and is supposed 
to embarrass every measure proposed to relieve us by grants of 
money. It is certain, that under the resolution, perhaps 
too hastily declared, of the king's imposing no new taxes 
on his subjects for this year, the Court has great difficulties 
in defraying present expenses, the vast exertions to put the 
navy in a condition to equal England, having cost immense 
sums. 

" There is also a prevailing opinion, that the most effec- 
tual service to us is to be expected from rendering their 
marine superior to that of England. The king, has, however, 
to encourage our loan in Holland, been so good as to engage, 
under his hand, to be security for our payment of the interest 
of three millions livres; but that loan has not yet amounted 

» An English sloop-of-war captured Homme Richard, named by himself 

by John Paul Jones in the Ranger. from the Poor Richard of Franklin's 

^ Matters did not turn out exactly Almanac, in which he captured the 

in this way, but Jones did manage to English ship Serapis, 
get to sea on Aug. 14th in the Bon 



24:0 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BEXJAMI:N^ FRAXKLIN 

to more than about eighty thousand florins/' To the Com- 
mittee of Foreign Affairs, May 26, 1779. 

The remainder of the letter deals chiefly with financial 
matters. 

In unofficial hours Franklin's life in France was most 
pleasant. He was already well known and highly esteemed 
as a scientist, but he was also enthusiastically admired as 
a republican and a citizen by a nation which in a few years 
was ready to declare itself a republic. Further he found 
in France a clever, brilliant, intellectual society which 
valued him highly, not only for his more solid attainments, 
but for the original if somewhat homely wit and humor, 
w^hich is preserved in so many of his slighter pieces, some of 
which were written at this time, and which had made Poor 
Eichard famous in all languages. We may get a slight 
note of his private life at this time from a letter to his old 
friend Mrs. Margaret Stevenson. 

" You wish to know how I live. It is in a fine house, 
situated in a great village,- on high ground, half a mile from 
Paris, with a large garden to walk in. I have abundance 
of acquaintance, dine abroad six days in seven. Sundays 
I reserve to dine at home, with such Americans as pass this 
way; I then have my grandson Ben, with some other Ameri- 
can children from the school. 

"If being treated with all the politeness of France, and 
the apparent respect and esteem of all ranks, from the high- 
est to the lowest, can make a man happy, I ought to be so. 
Indeed, I have nothing to complain of, but a little too much 
business, and the want of that order and economy in my 
family, which reigned in it when under your prudent 
direction.^' To Mrs. Margaret Stevenson, Passy, 25 Jan., 
1779. 

On the surrender of Cornwallis, it became evident that the 

- Passy, now a part of Paris. 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 241 

war was over. Negotiations for peace began and though 
(as always in diplomacy) it took a long time even to get 
started, and more to discuss everything, yet at last a 
provisional treaty was signed, which later was made defini- 
tive. With Franklin, at this time, were associated John 
Adams and John Jay. For some time still Franklin re- 
mained in France: he was over eighty at this time and the 
journey home was difficult and trying. He sometimes 
thought that he must end his life in France. But in 1785 
he returned to Philadelphia, was received by his fellow-citi- 
zens with the greatest enthusiasm, and was at once put to 
public service. " I had not firmness enough," he says in a 
letter, "to resist the unanimous desire of my country-folks; 
and I find myself harnessed again in their service for an- 
other. They engrossed the prime of my life. They have 
eaten my flesh, and seem resolved now to pick my bones." 
For three years he remained President of the Council of 
Pennsylvania, and retired only the year before his death. 



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